The Other Side
by vampyr-eternal
Summary: Sarah’s back Aboveground trying to deal with the repercussions of her attack, Jareth’s Underground trying to prevent a war but unable to keep his mind off Sarah… If you’ve not read The Pain Would Come and The Eye of the Storm I’d advise heading to my prof
1. Chapter 1

**Sarah's back Aboveground trying to deal with the repercussions of her attack, Jareth's Underground trying to prevent a war but unable to keep his mind off Sarah… If you've not read The Pain Would Come and The Eye of the Storm I'd advise heading to my profile and reading those first as this is the third part in the series and won't make much sense without them.**

**That's right, it's finally here!!!! The third and final part of my Labyrinth series! I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get here, not had the best year, but it's here and that's all that matters, right? So I hope you enjoy it…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Labyrinth… I do however own all the original characters.**

Sarah awoke with a start, sitting up in bed, gasping for breath. Her skin was drenched in sweat, her heart pounding. For a second she sat there disorientated, detached from her body, her mind still in the terror of her dreams…

Eventually her mind began to register her surroundings; the small yet comfy bed, secure in its familiarity, the undersized room, cramped but homely, the shelves of soft toys gazing down at her with loving faces. All of it safe, all of it now recognizable to her fear consumed brain.

As her heart began to slow she felt the dull ache begin in her leg, a reminder of the injuries that had never a really healed, of memories that would never really fade. She felt the tears begin to fall as the nightmare came back in vivid detail, as she began to live the horror all over again.

She heard a knock on her door before it was opened by her housemate Mark. He stuck his head around the door and upon seeing her tears, sat by her side on the bed and wrapped his arms around her protectively. Instinctively she flinched before relaxing into him. For a while there was silence as she let his familiar, safe presence soothe the panic coursing through her veins. Resting her head on his shoulder she heard him speak, breaking the peace of their embrace.

"Wer' it the nightmares?"

Tensing up once more as the memories invaded her mind, she felt him hold her even closer as she replied.

"Yes, it was the nightmare again. I dreamt the whole thing this time…"

The tremor in Mark's arms as he held her brought her back, back to this world, back from the terror of that night. "I wish I knew what t' do t' help ya Sarah" he whispered. "I hate t' see ya in such torment."

For a second, Sarah lost the slight control she had over her tears. She wished she knew how he could help too. She longed for peace, for an end to the torture those memories brought, but she was at as much of a loss as he was. Taking a deep breath, she looked into the eyes of her best friend and said, "Never wish for anything, wishes only bring more trouble. No, it's time I began to come to terms with this. I was…" Her voice faltered, her nerve wavered and her head drooped, closing her eyes she tried to stop the tears once again threatening to break free. Taking another deep breath she raised her head and began again. "I was raped. As hard as this is, wishing isn't going to help, but you being here is. You're my best friend, you and Amber and I honestly don't know how I'd have got through these last three months without you both"

By this time she was shaking, the memories hurt, but saying it out loud made it even more real, intensified the pain, brought the night back into full focus. Her life up until then had been nothing out of the ordinary, boring job, few friends, a family that was about to fall apart due to an alcoholic father, shopaholic stepmother, a younger brother who she adored but had become dependent on her due to the impending breakdown of their parents marriage. She'd suffered from depression and embraced a metal lifestyle, and it was this that had led directly to her attack, in the stairwell of a car park after leaving an alternative club at three o'clock in the morning. Though she had fought for her life, she had been too weak to fight two of them. They had raped her, beaten her and left her for dead. Somehow though, she'd survived, after a month in a coma she had finally woken up to find herself in hospital, covered in tubes and casts for broken bones and alone, completely alone.

The doctors had been stunned when they'd found her awake and coherent, she'd been put through rigorous tests and intensive physiotherapy for her injury's, but she was still far from completely healed. As for the mental injuries… Two months in therapy had hardly helped dull the pain of her attack. She couldn't think about it without breaking down, and often found her mind going blank in an attempt to block out the pain. Sometimes she'd lose hours before finally coming back to her senses, but she never mourned those lost hours, they were her only respite from the pain. Even sleep was no sanctuary now. At first her body had been so exhausted from her physiotherapy she'd fallen into a dead sleep every night, but after a couple of months, once things had calmed down, her sleep began to get lighter. It wasn't long before she began getting nightmares. At first they'd been vague, simply unsettling, but now she was reliving the attack in her dreams every night. She'd wake up terrified and each day became harder to get through. They say the pain fades with time, but hers seemed to be getting worse. It was as if some part of her was missing, some part so integral to her that she couldn't function properly without it. The doctors had put it down to her attack, saying the men had taken her self-respect, her dignity, the feeling of invulnerability so essential to the human psyche, that she felt lost without it. Sarah didn't care, all she knew was that it hurt. Unbearably.

The only good things in her life were Toby and her friends, Mark and Amber. Toby had been a godsend to her, seeing him for the first time after she woke up, she felt like she'd been reunited with a part of her soul. Even though hugging him had left her in physical agony, she couldn't help it. He'd visited her in hospital every day, and now she was out she made sure she saw him at least four times a week, even if it was only for an hour. She'd felt guilty for moving out of her family home and in with Mark and Amber, but life with her father and step-mother was just too hard. She needed support and they simply couldn't give her it. When she'd first moved back her father had been attentive to her, but within a week he'd gone back to his old ways, working, drinking, staying out all night. Sarah couldn't cope, Toby was asking too much from her, she just didn't have anything to give him. Concentrating on not breaking down constantly took all her effort, putting on a cheery face for her little brother when neither of his parents came home at night was impossible. She knew that with her gone, at least one of them would have to come home, surely that was better for him? She didn't know, all she knew was that if she had any chance of surviving her ordeal, she needed to be with people who would help take care of her, she just didn't have it in her to take care of a child right then.

So she'd moved in with Mark and Amber. They were the only two real friends she'd had, sticking by her after her complete image change, understanding her love for metal, not backing off during her mood swings and attitude problems. They were the only people who had even tried to understand her depression, they were the only ones who'd visited her in hospital. They'd been there for her every day since, and when it was obvious she wasn't coping at home, they'd immediately moved her in the spare room in their house. Sarah couldn't have asked for better friends, she knew she'd never be able to pay them back for helping her, but she tried to let them know how much she appreciated all they did for her.

She was left feeling constantly guilty for waking them up every night with her screaming. Often one or other of them would end up holding her until the small hours of the morning until she eventually drifted back off to sleep. It was taking its toll on them, but they wouldn't turn their backs on her, not for a second. They both cared for her deeply, she was their friend, and they would do whatever it took to help her get herself back on track.

That night it was Mark who'd awoken to her screams and gone to comfort her, Amber was out working, when her boss had offered her the night shift merchandising job she'd jumped at the chance. She enjoyed the work, but more importantly, it meant that Sarah wasn't left alone during the day. Both Amber and Mark were terrified of what she'd do if things got too much.

When Amber arrived home that morning she noticed Sarah was looking worse than ever. Forgetting her own exhaustion she immediately got changed, grabbed both their coats and ushered Sarah into her car for a day of shopping and pampering. At first this did nothing but terrify Sarah, she was scared of going outside, scared of being around men that weren't her family or Mark, but Amber didn't give her a choice, Sarah needed to get out and about if she were to recover from this. They spent the morning shopping, or at least window shopping, money was a bit tight. Although Sarah's father contributed to Sarah's keep, Amber and Mark were still having to support her, they never moaned, but Sarah knew it was hard on them.

They ate lunch in a small Italian restaurant, before heading home to put on some girly DVD's, eat popcorn and give each other facials. It was days like this that Sarah could feel almost normal. Amber kept up a steady stream of chatter that kept Sarah's mind off her ordeal, she'd find herself forgetting about it for hours on end before it would suddenly hit her again with an intensity that would cause her to almost burst into tears. Sarah had barely thought about her attack all day, it was only after Amber had fallen asleep half way through watching Pretty Woman that it all came back to her. The scene of the attempted rape cut Sarah like a knife and in her panic she grabbed her coat and left the house, desperate to get away from the film, to escape the memories. She walked for hours, roaming the streets in no general direction before eventually heading home to two distraught friends. Sarah calmed them with reassurances that she'd just needed some air, but she could see the fear in their eyes. They were terrified that one day she'd leave and wouldn't come back. That night Sarah cried herself to sleep, her breath coming in gasps, the sobs shaking her body uncontrollably. A day away from the pain only made it harder to bear when nightfall arrived. The memories were agony and it was almost dawn before exhaustion finally took over and she fell asleep

**A/N: So what do you think? All comments are appreciated, even negative ones as long as they're constructive, it all helps improve my writing.**

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	2. Chapter 2

The crystal went flying across the room, smashing against the helmet of a stunned Goblin. Jareth glared at the Goblin and when the little creature took a step back out of fear Jareth let out an inhuman below of rage. The Goblins fled, fighting each other to get out of the throne room as fast as they could. Never had they seen their King in such a rage, never had he shown such violence… never before had they been afraid of him, but they were now.

Two months ago they'd listened as Mandana explained what had happened at The Caves of Arnagoth, and the consequences of Sarah's actions there. They'd all grieved when they'd heard that she was going away and wouldn't be coming back. Although she'd only been there a month, they'd all grown to love her, she was a fair, just and kind ruler and they missed her. Jareth had reordered time Aboveground, but he hadn't altered anything Underground. He didn't see the point, he couldn't turn back the time in Arnagoth, he couldn't change what had happened, so what was the point reliving the month without her? No, he'd left time as it was in the Labyrinth, and so they all remembered Sarah, and they all missed her. Not only that but some of them had also lost more than one friend. Ludo and Sir Didymus grieved most of all the Goblins, having lost not only their precious Sarah, but Hoggle as well. Knowing Sarah had no friends Aboveground, Jareth had changed Hoggle and Carnice into humans, stripped them of their memory of their lives Underground, given them new memories of a life with Sarah, and sent them to her. He'd arranged jobs and a home for them and then he'd watched.

For two months, almost all he'd done was watch. The Kingdom was in turmoil around him. Negotiations between Gerard and Jareth's father Parthanon, the High King of the Underground were not going well. One of the punishments Gerard had demanded of Sarah for using the power of his Kingdom against him, was that her Kingdom be forfeit to him, along with her life. Sending her Aboveground, Jareth had cheated Gerard out of Sarah's life. Few creatures had the power to travel Aboveground, and although Gerard had once had this power, he'd lost it about six years ago. Gambling was rife in almost every world, and Arnagoth was no different, except Gerard had been gambling with more than money. In a bid to gain the power of an Animalanis to change shape, he'd bet his own powers of being able to travel between worlds. It was a bet he'd lost and so he was now confined to those worlds with weak magical barriers such as those surrounding Arnagoth and the Underground. Aboveground had as much magic as any other Kingdom, but instead of giving the magic to its people, there existed a strong magical barrier surrounding Aboveground, a barrier which few could penetrate, so Sarah was out of Gerard's reach. But as to the matter of Sarah's Kingdom,_ his_ Kingdom, he could see no way out. Determined to stay behind and guard his Kingdom, Jareth had soon forgotten his intentions. So distraught was he at losing his dearest Sarah, he became obsessed with watching her. It had fallen to his father to go into negotiations with Gerard, but there was only so long he could drag them out. Missed meetings, delays, arguments, checking of ancient law, Parthanon had tried it all, but he was running out of excuses, and Gerard was running out of patience. If Jareth didn't do something soon, Gerard would declare war on him, and as he had no direct involvement in the dispute, Parthanon could do nothing to stop it. Neither he, nor his royal army could help Jareth. As brave and fierce as the Goblins were, the merpeople of Arnagoth hugely outnumbered them. It would be a slaughter. Jareth would lose both his people and his Kingdom.

Salienne, Jareth's mother, had spent hours trying to convince him to do something, to enter talks with Gerard, to do anything to protect his Kingdom. She had pleaded, she had shouted, she had argued, but to no avail. Jareth's heart and mind were consumed by his grief, and nothing, not even the potential massacre of his beloved Goblins could shake him out of his reverie.

Earlier that day Saliene had come again to try to talk some sense into her son, but she had once again found him immersed in a crystal, staring intently at Sarah as she sat in bed, held by the man Hoggle had become, pouring her heart out in both tears and words. Saliene had watched silently, tears running down her own face as she watched Sarah's pain. Yet there were no tears on Jareth's cheeks, no moisture in his eyes, his face was hard and set, the only emotion he showed anymore was anger, most of the time he sat stony faced watching in a crystal. A barrier had gone up around his heart, he felt nothing but his pain for losing Sarah, yet he showed none of it.

It was only as Sarah's tears ceased that Jareth became aware of his mother's presence, but he did not look at her. The only visible sign he knew she was there was a tensing of his muscles again the argument he knew was to come. But Saliene was defeated. She knew what was to come. She couldn't make him listen to her, and Gerard wouldn't wait much longer. Sarah had usurped the power of his Kingdom, now he would take hers… regardless that she was not here to protect it. Instead, all the Labyrinth had was its King, a King who had months ago stopped paying any attention to it. The Labyrinth had fallen into decay, summons were ignored, the children in the castle had been adopted out early and no more arrived. Without an active ruler, parts of the Labyrinth began to be wild, Goblins stopped going there, what creatures remained were changed, they became dangerous. Saliene had watched the slow destruction of the Labyrinth from within, and she was beginning to despair. Now as she looked at the hunched shoulders of her son, watching the woman he loved in a crystal, she lost all hope.

Slowly she walked to the throne next to Jareth's and sat in it. Instantly Jareth was on his feet facing her, anger blazing from every fibre of his being. No one sat in Sarah's throne, no one even touched it! Yet Saliene was not a woman to be intimidated by her son. She stared him in the eyes as he glared at her, and eventually the anger faded from his face. He would not hurt his mother, he was not a monster. He dropped back into his throne, legs thrown over one side, but this time he looked at his mother. For a long while there was silence. It was Saliene who eventually broke it.

"The talks are almost over, there's nothing more your father can do. If you do not hand over your Kingdom, Gerard will attack."

There was no pleading in her voice, no anger, no fear. There was no emotion whatsoever, her voice was flat, dead. She'd given up. She had watched her son fall into despair, and his Kingdom fall into ruin around him. He would not fight, she could see that now, there was no point argueing anymore.

"His numbers are superior, your army cannot possibly win, and I will not let your people die for your grief. When Gerard strikes, I'm taking your subjects with me, every creature in this Labyrinth will return to the High Castle, and from there disperse to whichever Kingdom they like."

There was no change in Jareth's face, no sign he had even heard her words.

"Have no nothing to say on this matter?"

"And what is there to say mother? I have lost the only thing in this life I cared about, why should I bother about a piece of land?"

Once again, tears filled Saliene's eyes.

"Is that all it is now? A piece of land? Does it mean nothing to you now? Once this was your whole life, you tamed the Labyrinth like no one had ever been able to before, you brought it to life, and in turn it brought life into you. It gave you a vitality you had never had before."

"That may have been true once, but without Sarah, it is just land, there is no life here. Without Sarah, there is no life anywhere…"

"And so you would die from the loss of her? I have thought a lot of things about you in the past, a fair King you may have been, but you were also cruel, yet never have I thought you a coward."

A fire began to blaze in Jareth's eyes once again.

"That's right, you're a coward, no one but a coward would simply give up because they hit an obstacle."

"An obstacle! Is that what you call it?" His voice was filled with fury as he spoke. "I have lost the woman I loved…"

Saliene interrupted him before he could finish what he was to say.

"You speak as if she were dead. She is not."

"She might as well be. If she comes back here, he'll kill her."

"But she is not dead yet, your people may soon be if you do not face the challenge Gerard has set."

"Then take them, what do I care."

Before Saliene could reply, her anger quickly rising to match her sons, a voice was heard from the entrance to the throne room.

"Forgive me your Highness, but I will not leave my King in his hour of need. I am a Knight and I shall fight any enemy of my King to death."

The proud little Knight stood in the throne room, sword in hand, pressed against his breast, fierce pride showing in his eyes. For a few seconds there was silence before the lumbering hulk of Ludo entered the throne room also.

"Ludo protect King."

Saliene couldn't help but smile at his childlike loyalty, but it wasn't finished there. Slowly, one by one more Goblins came to stand with the Knight and the Beast.

"We's not leaving our King."

"Wouldn't be much good as royal guards if we dids that."

"Got's to stay and fight we has."

"Gerard aint getting this castle, it's ours and he aint getting it."

"We'll protect our King…"

"Our King needs us…"

"We won't leave our King…"

"…our King…"

"…our King…"

As she stared at the Goblins now pouring in the door Saliene felt the tears threaten again, but these weren't tears of sadness, these were tears of pride, pride that her son could instill such loyalty in his subjects, that they would face certain death for a King that had moments ago said he didn't care about them. Slowly she turned to face her son before she spoke.

"You may not care about them, but they care about you. Do not let them die for nothing."

With that she disappeared, leaving her son to ponder all that he'd seen and heard.

**AN: Thank you so much for the reviews you've left so far!!! I'm glad you're enjoying it, and Mentally Insane Fangirl, I've tried to eliminate run-on sentences, let me know what you think as this is something I appear to be struggling with. Thank you once again and I hope you enjoy this chapter! **


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Sarah awoke feeling violently ill, barely managing to make it to the bathroom before she threw up. When she was finished she felt washed out. Her immediate thought was that she was hung-over, but as she thought back to the night before, she realised she hadn't been drinking. That's when it hit her; this was the first night that she hadn't had the nightmare, the first night she hadn't woken up screaming. For the first time since her attack she felt a ray of hope, maybe she would get through this. She quickly got dressed and went downstairs.

However the second she opened the kitchen door the smell of Amber making a fried breakfast hit her and the nausea came back full force. Once again she dashed back to the bathroom just in time to throw up. By this time she felt completely drained, and totally confused. She hadn't drunk anything, hell she'd barely had a hangover in her life, her father's addiction putting her off alcohol quite early on. So why did she feel this ill? All she could put it down to was food poisoning.

She heard a timid knock on the door followed by Amber asking if she was ok. Sarah extracted herself from the floor and opened the door. Her friend gasped in shock at the sight of her.

"Sarah you look awful, are you alright?"

Sarah couldn't help but laugh in response. "Why is it that when you feel like crap, people think it's ok to tell you that you look like it too. I'm fine Amber, just don't ever take me to that Italian place again, I don't fancy the idea of reliving this side order of food poisoning."

Amber was worried for her friends' health, and yet Sarah seemed better, mentally. Almost as though last night's time alone to think had helped her deal with things slightly. Still, she knew they still had a long way to go yet. They all knew that.

"Right, you go crawl back into bed and I shall be there in just a moment with some Andrew's stomach salts, a glass of water and bucket."

The humour in her friends face made Sarah smile slightly.

"Great, I get sick and you mock me."

"It's all love Sarah." Amber shot back as she headed downstairs for her 'supplies'

Love. There it was again, that pain that shot through her, the feeling that she'd lost something more than what those men had taken. However her thoughts were interrupted by another mad dash to the toilet, her body now dry heaving as there was nothing left in her stomach to throw up. She spent most of the day in bed, feeling too ill to get up, not being able to keep anything other than water down, and sometimes struggling with that. Amber disappeared around lunchtime and returned thirty minutes later, her arms full of Disney films and they spent the rest of the day laughing at the various antics of their favourite characters. There were times when Sarah felt almost normal, like the attack had happened to someone else. There were points when she was so focused on a film that she forgot her attack entirely. Amber noticed the huge change in her friend. When she laughed it reached her eyes, her smile at the end of Pete's Dragon when Paul returns home touched Amber's heart, it was genuine, it had been so long since she'd seen her friend truly smile that she couldn't help but lean over and hug her, which of course was followed by Sarah pushing her off the bed whilst laughing telling her not to be so soppy.

There was hope in them both that day, hope that maybe they'd reached the turning point, that maybe time had finally begun its precious healing.


	4. Chapter 4

Jareth. She despised him. What he was now was worse than what he had been when Sarah was around. A wreck. A shell full of pain. Where was her Goblin King? Where was his strength? Her hatred for Sarah went beyond words. That she could reduce her beloved Goblin King to so little filled her with rage. Not only that but she had managed to escape death! Oh she would pay for that, she would pay dearly.

Gerard barely managed to move in time before the magic his mistress threw about the room turn the bed he was sat on into cinders. She'd been raging almost every day since Sarah had been sent back Aboveground. He'd tried everything to calm her but now he was losing patience, just like he was losing patience with the High King. So many delays had been thrown his way, pathetic excuses as to why a firm decision couldn't be made just yet, that he'd finally had enough. The Goblin Kingdom should have been his anyway, it should have fallen to him years ago when his brother died in a duel over possession of a slave girl. If the High King hadn't have stolen it, the Goblin Kingdom would have been given to him due to his brother's lack of legitimate heirs. No, the High King had taken what should rightfully have been his, it was time to move things along. If Jareth wouldn't give him his Kingdom, then Gerard would take it by force.

However his mistress didn't take the news in good humour.

"No, there can be no war."

"And why not? What better way is there to get what we want? We'll have his Kingdom and he'll be out of the way."

No sooner had the words escaped his lips than he regretted them. Instantly his mistress had him by the throat pinned up against the wall, his feet dangling inches off the floor as she held him so their eyes were at the same height.

"Understand this; I do not want him dead. I simply want his lands. The Goblin Kingdom should be mine!"

"Then why do you care what happens to him? He stole your Kingdom from you, he deserves to die for the insult, and why do you care about his fate if you hate him so?" Gerard managed to squeeze out through his choking throat.

"I don't hate him you imbecile, I simply hate the fact he was given my Kingdom to rule."

"Then why go after Sarah?" By now Gerard was struggling to form words, his breathing was being severely limited. He hoped his mistress decided to let him go before he lost consciousness.

"Because she's mortal and he loved her. For a royal Fae it's despicable. While ever she was alive there was a chance he might take her back to the Underground. She would be the Goblin Queen whilst I would be the Queen of nothing! I arranged her attack to get her out of the way, and to punish her for daring to love a Fae King." At this point her anger faded slightly and she let out a little chuckle. "I've always loved how easy it was to convince males to do my bidding, but those humans, ha, all it took was the promise of one night in my bed and look what they did to her. Shame I had to kill them afterwards, but a Fae lying with mortals, couldn't have that now could we?"

The light in his mistress's eyes filled Gerard with terror. Such malice for one so beautiful, and yet it wasn't that which scared him, there was a tinge of madness to her anger, just enough that Gerard wasn't sure how long this would continue, how far she would go to get her revenge on those she hated.

"So," she said, dropping Gerard to the floor and walking away. "How to get my Kingdom back without starting a war?"

It took Gerard a few moments to regain his senses after his strangulation, but when he did, his mind worked quickly. It was true, she did have a claim on the Kingdom, just as he had, that's why they were such a perfect couple, neither of them could gain the Kingdom alone, so Gerard had to convince her to agree with his plan.

"There may not be a way out of it, already the High King has delayed two months, he cannot delay much longer and when he has to admit Jareth's lands are forfeit, Jareth will have to either hand them over or I will have to declare war."

"If you declare war, Jareth may get hurt, even killed, with his head in his bloody crystals the way it is at the moment, he probably won't even realise he's in the middle of a war. No, there can be no war."

"Then we have to find a way to get his head out of those crystals."

At that his mistress stopped her pacing instantly and looked at him with eyes full of malice and more than a little madness. Gerard couldn't help but flinch under the intensity of her gaze.

"That's it. The only way to draw Jareth back into his Kingdom is to take away that which he watches. Finally the time has come to eliminate that mortal bitch once and for all."

It was all Gerard could do to stop himself groaning. So she still hadn't given up on destroying Sarah, even though the girl was in another world, she was still tormented by the fact that Jareth still loved her. The despair that had filled the High King and Queen when he'd made his demands began to fill Gerard too, for the first time he realised that he may just be a puppet in this mad woman's games of revenge. He knew now that he could not pull out of this if he wanted to. She would have Jareth's lands and she would see Sarah dead or she would destroy everything in her attempts.

**A/N once again, huge thank you to all my readers, and especially to my loyal reviewers!! Now as I've tried to keep this enemy mistress's identity secret I would really appreciate feedback on how well I've done this, or whether I've just gone over the top and confused people. Obviously I don't want the surprise ruined for other people so if you guess who she is PM me it, don't leave it as a review, but all other comments/reviews would be most appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

When Sarah awoke the next day she was feeling no better than the previous morning. Within seconds of waking she had her head over the toilet, emptying the bile from her stomach. Once again Amber came to check she was okay, and when she saw Sarah, she began to get worried. Sarah wasn't in the best health as it was. Getting her to eat had been hard over the past two months, she had no desire for it, and if food wasn't placed in front her, she wouldn't even think about eating. As a result she'd lost a lot of weight, now add the food poisoning, and Amber knew her friend could end up seriously ill.

Amber had arranged to work a day shift as a favour to a colleague, she considered ringing in sick, but Sarah wouldn't hear of it, insisting she'd be fine. After half an hour of protests Amber eventually left for work, making Sarah promise she'd ring if she needed her.

Sarah spent the rest of the day in bed, her good mood the day before having worn off. She was stunned she'd managed to sleep through a full second night, but her despair had returned with full force, she didn't even have the strength to leave her bed except to refill her glass of water. Mark managed to get her to force down a couple of slices of plain toast when he got home, and Sarah even managed to keep them down, but that was all she could manage. She eventually dropped off to sleep in the early evening, exhaustion from her illness knocking her out.

Amber was even more worried when she returned home and Sarah didn't look any better. She decided that she'd see how she was tomorrow before making a decision. However all the morning brought was more nausea, although she did manage to eat a few more slices of toast. By this time even Sarah was worried, maybe this was more than just food poisoning. Ignoring Sarah's protests, Amber bundled her into the passenger seat of her car and took her to their doctor. Once they got there the doctor asked her a few hundred questions before examining her. After the examination the doctor called Amber back into her office. Both girls sat silently waiting for the woman in front of them to speak.

"Sarah, I'm afraid it is not food poisoning that is causing your vomiting."

Sarah had been expecting these words. In fact she knew what was coming, though her conscious mind refused to believe it. Her doctor's questions had quickly focused on one issue and it had become clear what was wrong with her. The pause before the doctor's next words was just long enough for pure dread to set in.

"Sarah I'm sorry, but you're pregnant."

Amber couldn't help but let out a small gasp of shock. Of all the things she had been expecting that wasn't one of them.

"Doctor I don't understand, how could she be pregnant? The last time she had sex was her attack, and after that… I mean, why didn't the doctors do something to prevent this?" There was a tinge of hysteria to her voice. After all her friend had been through, she didn't deserve this. Amber was terrified this would be too much, after all Sarah had suffered, how could she deal with this as well?

"Usually they would have, but due to the severity of her injuries and the fact her body was in a coma, this should not have been possible. That a pregnancy could last through such trauma is a miracle."

"A miracle??? How can you call this a miracle? Doctor she was raped and beaten and now she's pregnant, somehow I don't think miracle is the word you're looking for."

"Amber calm down, Sarah, honey, speak to me."

All this time Sarah had been silent. The words just wouldn't sink in, wouldn't make sense, wouldn't form a coherent thought. Pregnant? Attacked, and now pregnant? Her rational mind simply would not believe this was happening to her. The doctor had to call her three times before she was even aware she was being spoken to. Even then all she could manage to get out was "I'm fine. I'll be fine." Neither her friend nor her doctor were convinced, and as she watched the two women looking at her with such pity on her face she couldn't stand it, she couldn't deal with their pity, not on top of this. She fled. She wasn't even sure where she was going, all she knew was that she had to be alone.

Neither woman had time to react before Sarah was out of the office, once she got outside she ran around the side of the building and down the path at the back. By the time Amber had regained her senses and followed her outside, Sarah was long gone.

Sarah had no idea where she was heading, all she knew is that she had to keep moving, adrenaline giving her all the energy she needed despite her lack of food recently. It was only after hours of walking randomly that Sarah realised she was near her father's house. Her first thought was that she was heading to see Toby, but she found herself walking instead towards the park she'd spent half her childhood in. As she walked slowly through it she thought back to the many hours of her life she'd spent there, all the play acting she'd done. She could see herself in her minds eye wearing an old fashioned dress, reciting lines, but she couldn't remember what play it had been. It had happened so many times yet she had no idea what the lines were, what she had been acting. She found a familiar bench and sat down, not even noticing when darkness fell, simply concentrating on trying to remember what had so entranced her during her childhood, what had so caught her attention that she'd spent days on end pretending to be the lead girl.

Mark found her not long after that. Having returned home to find both girls gone, he'd rung Amber and she'd told him what had happened at the doctors. Terrified that Sarah had done something stupid he immediately headed out to join the search for her. It was hours before Mark had remembered the park she used to hang out in so much as a child and he'd made his way over there, finding her immediately, sat on her old bench.

She became aware of him as he started walking towards her, startled out of her reverie by his presence. They looked at each other for a few second before he spoke and broke the silence.

"What're ya doing out here?"

Looking away from him, out towards the park, she answered quietly, "I like it here."

"But why in t' rain?"

She hadn't even realised it was raining.

"Rain is cleansing, it washes away the dirt, makes everything clean again, pure, untainted, as it should be. If only it could work on the inside…"

Her head dropped and although he was unable to see the tears through the rain, he knew she was crying from the shaking of her shoulders. Heartbroken at seeing her in such pain he put his hand on her shoulder, comfortingly. Raising her head sharply to look at him, she continued, "But it can't, can it? Nothing can. Nothing can take away what they did! I'm dirty, tainted! What they did left a scorch mark on my soul and nothing I can ever do can take that away!"

By this time she was hysterical, her eyes were bloodshot and had a wild look in them. Each word she spoke hurt him a little bit more to see her like this, but she wasn't finished yet.

"I sit here in the rain begging for a way to make this go away, begging to be cleansed, but nothing works. Not prayers, not pleas, not wishes. They destroyed me, Mark. They destroyed me and now there's nothing left. But it's more than that! It's deeper. I lost something, something more than what they took. I feel so alone, like there should be someone here but there's not. It's like I've lost something so much a part of me that I can't carry on without it. But I'm mourning something I've never had! What did they do to me to make me feel like this? What did they take from me? I've lost something and I don't even know what it is! I'm broken Mark, I'm… I…"

Unable to go on she dropped her arms, and brought her knees up, hugging them so herself as she gave herself over to the soul-wrenching sobs coming from her body. Mark finally sat down and put his arms around her, but she didn't relax into his arms, she was past comforting.

"Sarah, I can't imagine what yer going through right now, you were raped an it's awful, but that's all this is, what's been taken from yer, it's what they took."

Wrenching her head up to look at him she almost screamed in response. "No, that's not it, it's more than that, deeper, different!"

"Different how?"

"I don't know, if I did, I'd… oh I don't know, I don't understand any of this. I just want it to go away, just want it to leave me alone…" Her last words were almost a whisper.

Holding her tighter Mark waited as she cried all the tears that were left inside her. Maybe she was right, maybe it was something more, but then again how could it be? She'd been in a coma for a month after her attack, and these feelings certainly weren't new to her, she'd had them since she woke up, so what was it that was affecting her so much? Sighing he resigned himself to the fact that he'd probably never know the answers to those questions, for that matter neither would she. All he could do was be there for her when she needed him, and hope she'd manage to figure this out for herself. As for the baby, well it didn't seem like Sarah was even acknowledging she was pregnant right now, not that he could blame her, after all she'd been through, to have to deal with this as well? Sometimes he hated this world.

**A/N Happy now Alexandraya??? haha. Thank you once again for all your reviews, if you feel things are going a bit slow, you'll have to bear me with me I'm afraid, but it all starts to pick up pace soon, I promise!**

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	6. Chapter 6

Mandana found Jareth in his bedroom, sat on the window ledge with his knees drawn up to his chest. For once he wasn't staring at a crystal, instead he sat looking out over his Labyrinth, but she knew he wasn't really seeing it. His mind was far away, encased in memories of Sarah, of the brief but powerful month she'd spent here. Mandana couldn't help but feel pity for him. They'd all loved Sarah, they all missed her, but not like him, his love for Sarah was destroying him in her absence, and what Mandana was about to tell him would only make things worse…

"Your majesty…" She began timidly

Immediately Jareth's head shot around to look at her, his eyes glowing slightly with his rage at being disturbed. However Mandana had had just about as much of his temper as she could stand.

"Now don't yous start that, ya don't frighten me and you knows it. I'm not taking this no more, we's all missing Sarah, but we's still got lives to live, we aint stopped because she's gone. And don't you go starting on how you loved her the most, we know that, don't make no difference. Now you just listen to what I got to say cos this aint gonna be easy."

It was the first time since Sarah had gone that someone had really stood up to him, Mandana knew his temper, but she knew that he'd never intentionally hurt one of his Goblins. He needed someone to talk to him straight, and that's what she intended to do. Still, she had to do this gently.

"Sire, when's the last time you watched Sarah?"

She could see from his face he had no idea, the hours he spent lost in memories passed like minutes, it didn't matter, it was obvious he didn't know what had happened earlier that day.

"Sire, there's something you need to know. Sarah's pregnant, and it's your baby."

Jareth's face went blank, so stunned was he at this news. He couldn't form a coherent thought, let alone put them into words. Fae pregnancy's were so rare that he hadn't even thought it possible so soon. True Sarah had been human originally, but conceiving in the Underground still wasn't easy, and for a foetus to have survived the journey Aboveground? Such a thing was almost impossible.

"Now I knows this is a shock, it's a shock to all of us, but that's a Fae baby in her belly and that means it's yours. Til now we've all just left you to your tantrums, but now there's a baby in the mix and it's time for ya to do something. Gerard wants this kingdom and you's got to fight for it! Us Goblins are ready to stand by your side but you've got to be willing to lead us. As for Sarah, well she don't remember none of this, so she's gonna think it was those men, if you can even call them men. I don't know if she's gonna be able to deal with this. Something needs to be done. Carnice and Hoggle are helping, but they can't watch her all the time, she needs someone with magic to protect her. Now I don't know how you're going to do it, but you've gotta figure a way to help her and protect your Kingdom. You's a King Jareth, you's my King! Now start acting like one."

There was a hint of anger in her voice, but it was what Jareth needed. He felt like he'd been smacked around the head, made to realise what was happening outside of his crystals and memories. Mandana was right, he knew what he had to do, but he had no idea how to do it. He had to protect Sarah, but he was needed here. He was in over his head and was finally ready to admit it. Gritting his teeth he summoned a crystal, but his pride simply wouldn't let him use the magic. He held the crystal in his hand for ten minutes before eventually yelling in rage and smashing it against a wall.

"Jareth this is ridiculous, at your age you should be mature enough to bite down on your pride and ask for help when you need it."

His mother stood not five feet in front of him, a scowl on her face and her body tensed for the argument that was no doubt to follow, Mandana saw this and left quietly.

"Now mother, you raised me as a King, King's don't ask for help."

"A true King would, seems all you took from your raising was your father's arrogance but none of my wisdom."

At first Jareth was seething, but then his anger quickly melted into a chuckle. She was right, he may not be mature enough to ask for help, but he could certainly admit his faults, some of them anyway.

"Now, are you going to tell me why it is you wanted my help?" His mother said, settling herself regally into one of the chairs strewn around the room.

Jareth had to restrain himself from retorting that he didn't need help, for once it was clear that he did.

"Sarah's pregnant."

His mother's shock mirrored his own at finding out this news. She didn't even need to ask if it was his, they both knew Jareth's magic had made sure that Sarah could not have conceived through her attack.

"So what do you plan to do?"

"Mother what can I do? Gerard's about to declare war on my Kingdom, how can I leave now?"

"Well you can't leave her alone up there, poor dear, can you imagine what she's going through. I know she's got Carnice and Hoggle, but they have no idea of the reality of the situation and Carnice has no memory of her magic. Neither of them can protect Sarah, she needs a guardian."

"But how can I leave. If I go, every living creature in this land will be slaughtered. You think Gerard will show them any mercy? He doesn't know the meaning of the word."

Jareth all but spat on the floor when he spoke Gerard's name. There were some wounds that not even time could heal, his mother knew Jareth would never forgive Gerard for what he'd done to him. They'd been on the verge of war for years, all they'd needed was a catalyst, Sarah done a great job as one. But now Sarah needed Jareth just as much as his Kingdom did. Yet as the High Queen watched her son she could see he could barely keep his mind on the dilemma, every part of him was screaming to go Aboveground, desperate to be with Sarah, now more than ever. As he was, Jareth could no more protect his lands than he could forsake Sarah.

The solution crept into Saliene's mind slowly, fought off at every step by her denial that such a thing was necessary.

"There is a way you can do both. You can protect Sarah, and protect your Kingdom."


	7. Chapter 7

Jareth looked at his mother with more than a little suspicion in his eyes. The hesitation in her voice told him that what she was about to suggest wasn't going to be a simple solution.

"As you are, you can't help the Labyrinth, your mind is consumed by Sarah, you cannot focus on anything else. As for Sarah, you can't help her without abandoning your Kingdom and all the people that love you. But there is a way to do both."

Jareth's suspicion deepened with every word his mother spoke.

"In every person there is darkness and light, and in you that is increased tenfold. What was done to you as a child created a darkness within you that can never be erased, but it can be controlled. Up until now you have hidden it, but Gerard is not going to fight cleanly, he will use every evil he has in his possession to destroy you and take your Kingdom, you're going to need your darkness to fight back."

Jareth began to protest but his mother cut him off.

"I know you fear it, but the only way to save your Kingdom is to set that darkness free."

"And what about Sarah?" her son retorted, angry at her mentioning his past.

"Sarah needs the light in you, the kindness, the love. Your darkness is this Kingdom's defense. Your light is her protection." The High Queen paused before continuing. "You have to divide your essence. The two sides of you have become so strong, so separate, that I believe it will be possible. Split yourself. The light in you is rooted in your mortal self, that self which loves Sarah and wants to protect her. The darkness is rooted in your Fae self, it was created in a land of magic and that is the side that has adopted it. As the Goblin King you call on that persona to test runners, but now it is time to set it free. Give it your magic, let your darkness protect this Kingdom whilst your light can protect Sarah."

"Just exactly how do I protect Sarah? If my darkness is the Goblin King then all that will go Aboveground is a mortal who Sarah will not know and cannot possibly protect her."

For a while his mother was silenced. It was true, it wasn't possible to split his magic, that belonged with the Goblin King, he'd only manifested his powers when he'd taken the throne, there was no way to separate them.

"There is one way."

The High King's voice sounded across the room, neither mother nor son knew how long he'd been there listening to their conversation, but it was obvious he knew what was being discussed.

"Jareth, this war will be between you and Gerard, as such I cannot interfere, I cannot lend you my armies, I cannot help. Your Goblins are brave souls, and fierce to boot, but they are not soldiers. The folk of the Caves are trained, and despite your Sarah offering many of them a home here, their numbers are still greatly in excess of yours. You shall lose this battle. And your people will die."

There was a weariness to his voice. He was aware what he was about to do could well be a mistake, but he had no choice. To save his son's Kingdom he would risk all he had.

Suddenly the room was filled with people of all races, Fae, Goblin, Animalanis and Elementals, nobles and common folk alike. No longer were the High King and Queen dressed in their usual clothes, they now wore the robes made of the very fabric of magic itself, shining with the brightest Fae light. Jareth's clothes had changed also, no more were the skin tight pants and leather jacket, now he wore robes that matched his parents. As his father spoke once more, his voice boomed through the castle, indeed the magic he was sending out meant that every word was heard by every subject within the Underground, not just those assembled within the castle.

"Time stops for no man, but men must stop for time. As High King my reign has ended, no longer am I the only one suitable for this crown, another has ascended and it is his time to reign." As he spoke the light emanating from him began to grow ever brighter, then began focusing itself into a ball in the palm of the hand he now held out towards his son.

"As I pass the throne to my son, I pass also the magic of the High Rulers. May he use it wisely, to protect his vast Kingdom and it subjects from all harm and to provide them all they need to prosper eternally."

As he spoke these final words the ball of light shot out of his hand and hit Jareth in the chest. Jareth didn't even stumble under the impact, instead he began glowing with the same light his father had only moments ago. So stunned was he that he couldn't form a thought coherent enough to put into words. In fact the whole hall was silent, no one had expected anything as drastic as this to occur. Parthanon took full advantage of the silence.

"Know this though, the Goblin Kingdom is on the verge of war and it is down to Jareth to protect it, therefore he shall retain Kingship of the Labyrinth. As High King he shall have the authority over all the armies of the Underground and though this may be a war unlike any that has been seen before, victory shall be his!" The former High King's voice was rising with passion at his speech. "The Underground shall not fall, Gerard shall not conquer, and in his defeat he will lose all he has! His lands shall be joined to the Underground and we shall be made mightier by them! Now go, prepare your soldiers for the coming battle."

With that the room was emptied, leaving a stunned, newly-made High King and his now retired parents.

For a while there was silence as Jareth and his mother strove to make sense of what had just happened. Eventually it was Saliene that spoke, addressing her husband.

"I don't understand, how will this help Jareth protect Sarah?"

Parthanon waited, to give Jareth time to focus on the conversation.

"Jareth, when I gave you the power of the High Rulers, I gave you that of mine and your mother's, we retain the magic that is ours by right of being Fae, but the power of the Rulers is yours. When you split, the Goblin King will keep your Fae magic, and half of the magic of the High Rulers, but the other half can be given to your mortal self. You will still have the power to protect Sarah."

For the first time the possibility that he might actually be able to do this hit Jareth. He could protect Sarah and defend his Kingdom. His parents began explaining the specifics of the ritual involved in splitting his essence, but Jareth's mind was focused on one thing:

He would be with Sarah again.


	8. Chapter 8

Gerard sat watching his silent mistress. She hadn't said a word since her return. He'd seen her temper before, watched her destroy things, witnessed her violence against other creatures, but seeing her calm, still and completely unresponsive was terrifying.

Jareth had cheated her out of the Labyrinth, and now he was High King. His mistress's fury had reached a point that she had internalized it. He'd never seen her like this before and the fear of what she would do now was taking over him. After half an hour of trying to coax her out of her silence he'd given up and started pacing. After an hour of that he'd gone back to talking to her, asking what she was thinking, trying to reason with her, talk her out of whatever it was she was planning. Eventually he starting talking about anything that came into his head, desperate to try and distract her from her thoughts, but she was entirely unresponsive. He wasn't even sure if she was aware he was even in the room.

Now, hours later, he was sat by her side, sharing her silence, as minute by minute his dread grew. He was no longer in control, he knew that now, maybe he never had been, all that was certain was that he was simply her puppet to get what she wanted, and as he looked at her vacant stare he wasn't sure what that was anymore. What he'd started years ago when he'd taken Jareth as a slave now threatened to destroy him. As High King Jareth could command the Fae army, and Gerard knew that if the full army mobalised, he and his people would be wiped out. However, Jareth could not command the Fae to join his army, he could not force them to go to a war that might mean their death. Jareth's army would be made up only of those that were loyal to him, those that wished to fight. Had it been Parthenon leading them, Gerard was sure almost every Fae of the Underground would have mobilized against him, but it wasn't Parthenon at the head, it was Jareth, the Goblin King. He was an ex-mortal, the war was over a mortal, Gerard knew there would be many Fae that would not follow him for that reason alone. Of course those would not be their official reasons, they would use flowery language, flatter the King, give reasons of family etcetera, but everyone would know the real cause of their disloyalty.

Gerard's mood began to lift slightly. With so many absent, the army that did assemble would surely be low on moral, that they were ruled by a new King wouldn't help either. Gerard began to feel hope and he turned to his mistress to attempt to explain his reasoning and thereby draw her out of her silence, but what he saw lodged the words in his throat with fear. No longer was her face blank. Her mouth now curved up into a tight smile, her eyes gleamed with the madness of her thoughts. She had gone past ranting, gone past hating, this woman was mad, and she would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Gerard just prayed she didn't destroy everything and everyone in her quest to get it.

**A/N Once again, huge thanks to my readers and especially those who review, they're seriously beginning to put my mind at rest. Hope you continue to enjoy it!**


	9. Chapter 9

The next day Amber and Mark awoke to find Sarah gone once again, a note on the fridge telling them she had gone to visit Toby. Although they still worried about her, they knew she was safe, she would never lie about going to see Toby, he meant the world to her and after her visit to the doctor's, she'd need his comfort more than ever.

When Sarah reached her parent's house she used her key to let herself in. On announcing her presence she heard a yell from the living room immediately followed by Toby running to her and almost knocking her over with the force of his hug. Laughing she hugged him back for a few seconds until Toby remembered he was a man and men should not hug their sisters and pushed her away. Sarah had to stop herself from laughing at seeing her little brother acting so tough, but it was soon followed by a sobering thought.

"So Toby, where's dad?"

She tried to make it sound lighthearted, but she knew her voice was strained. Her heart fell when she saw the smile disappear from Toby's face, and she could almost predict his answer.

"He's still in bed."

Steeling herself against what was to come she handed Toby her bag, telling him she'd picked him up some cookies on the way, before she made her way up to her father's bedroom. She found him just as she'd expected, laid out on the bed, still dressed in last night's clothes, an empty whiskey bottle by the side of the bed. She couldn't help the tears that instantly sprang into her eyes. She remembered the father he'd been to her, strong, happy, always ready with a kind word, a story, or a treat. He'd been both a father and mother to her after her mother had died, to see him now broke her heart. He was nothing, he'd survived his first wife's death, but his second wife was destroying him. Sarah had never gotten on with Karen, but right now she was glad her stepmother wasn't here, she wasn't sure she would have been able to keep her temper if she had been. As it was, she had enough to cope with having to deal with her father.

She turned on the light before carefully picking her way over scattered clothes and alcohol bottles and opening the curtains to let some real light into the room. Her father never even flinched at the brightness in his unconscious stupor. Sarah made her way back to the bed, picking up the discarded clothes on the way before dumping them in a pile at the door to put in the laundry. Then she began picking up the bottles and general trash that was strewn about. It was only the clink of empty bottles that finally caused her father to stir. Sitting up slowly, groaning as he did so, her father took a few seconds to realise it was his daughter that was tidying up his mess.

"Sarah. What are you doing here?" He asked her groggily.

It was all Sarah could do to keep her voice civil, so angry was she at how her father was treating Toby. Her own guilt was mixed in with her feelings for her father, and it wasn't going to make this conversation any easier.

"I came over to visit Toby."

"Oh, right. You don't have to do that, Sarah, leave it, I'll er, I'll tidy it up later."

Sarah could hear the lies and yet she still struggled not to believe him. He was her father, to see him looking around the room for a bottle that wasn't empty was more than she could stand. Dropping the trash she'd already collected in the waste basket, she picked up the pile of clothes from the floor and began to head out of the bedroom.

"Wait, where are you going?" Robert managed to call out behind her.

"I'm taking Toby out." Was the only civil reply she could give him.

When she reached downstairs she found Toby sitting at the kitchen counter, eating the cookies he'd found in her bag, watching her with a worried look on his face. Seeing the child that he was so upset hurt her more than she could put into words. She hated that she'd moved out, but she wasn't strong enough to look after Toby, she just wasn't ready yet. Her theory that her absence might make her father and Toby's mother more attentive had been wrong. She still wasn't sure where Karen was, probably out shopping or at lunch with her friends, who knew. All Sarah was certain of was that she had to get Toby out of here, even if only for a day. So she threw the clothes into the washing machine, turned it on, grabbed her bag and head out with Toby.

Their first stop was the park. They spent over an hour there, just talking, mostly it was Toby speaking. Sarah knew that he kept his home life to himself, that she was the only one he could talk to about it, she needed to give him time to get out what was going on in his head. He may only have been a child, but he wasn't stupid, he knew what had happened to Sarah, not the full extent, he was too young to understand the full story, but he knew she'd been attacked. He didn't understand why she'd had to leave, but he never blamed her. Sarah had to stop herself from crying as she heard the anger in his voice when he told her that he'd leave too if he had a choice. She wished so much that she could help him, but she could barely take care of herself, and now she had a baby on the way… remembering the fact that she was pregnant brought the fear back in full force, but she pushed it away, concentrating instead on her brother. Toby was the important one today, not her.

Toby ranted for over an hour before he ran out of things to say, Sarah could tell he felt a bit happier now that he'd gotten it all off his chest, but there was still a long way to go before he'd be truly happy. Intending to do all she could to help, Sarah took him to the local family pub they always used to go to, allowing him to choose his favourite meal followed by two helpings of pancakes with ice cream and chocolate sauce. Sarah didn't eat anything herself, her morning sickness had lessened, and she'd managed to force down some porridge that morning, but the thought of anything more substantial made her turn green. After the meal she was left with a little brother who was incredibly hyper on sugar, but there were still many hours left in the day with which to have fun. Their next stop was the cinema, Sarah figured it'd be the best way to let his stomach settle and therefore avoid any illness.

After that was the bowling alley, Sarah felt the need to let Toby work off some of his sugar, and unlike at the cinema, she was focused on the game, so had no time to dwell on her problems. Today was about Toby, she just had to keep remembering that, she couldn't let the darkness inside her invade Toby's life. The money she used throughout the day, she had taken from the money her father gave Amber and Mark for her keep. Very early on they'd started setting money aside for her to do things with Toby, they knew how hard it was for him and they wanted to help out any way they could.

After a few hours of bowling Toby was finally ready to leave. Sarah had stopped bowling after one game when she'd felt the old aches and pains from her injuries coming back, so had let Toby carry on by himself. But like every boy of his age, no matter how much he'd had for lunch, he was hungry again by dinner time. She bought him some food from the diner in the bowling alley, even managing to eat some chips herself, before heading out to the nearest shopping centre before it closed and buying him a new game for his Playstation. By the time they got back to their parent's house it was almost Toby's bed time. As they were walking back, the happy mood of the day began to fade with thoughts of what they would find when they got home. When they arrived Karen was in the living room watching TV, as soon as she heard them come in she got up and came towards Sarah with a fierce look in her eyes.

"Where the hell have you been?" She asked. Sarah could barely keep her anger reigned in as she told Karen that she was taking Toby up to bed before she would have this conversation. Karen kept quiet, allowing Sarah to do what she said, but the look on her face made it clear Sarah was in for an argument when she came back down.

As a result Sarah took her time getting Toby ready for bed, even reading a story until he fell asleep. When she got back downstairs she told Karen to keep her voice down before her step mother had even had chance to say a word, something which just riled Karen even more.

"Where the hell have you been with him?" Her voice was quiet for her son's sake, but the anger that was coming off her was almost tangible.

"I took Toby out for the day." Sarah could barely speak through her anger.

"And you didn't think to tell me where you were going? I'm his mother for pity's sake!"

"Some mother! You weren't even here this morning when I arrived, Dad was unconscious and you weren't even here! How can you do this to him, he's only seven years old and you're leaving him to fend for himself? What kind of mother would do that?"

The second the words were out of Sarah's mouth, Karen reacted without thinking and slapped her stepdaughter. Both women were shocked by it, Sarah more so than Karen would ever understand. The pain was a vivid reminder of her attack, yet it was not followed by apologies. As Sarah looked at the woman in front of her, she saw no guilt in her eyes, only anger, she wasn't listening to a word Sarah said, she was only hearing insults. Sarah could see that Karen had no idea that what she was doing was wrong, that she couldn't treat her son this way. Sarah knew she was wasting her breath, and not wanting to end up in a physical fight with her father's wife, she left without a word. By the time she'd reached the bottom of the porch steps she was in tears. She couldn't see a way out of this situation, she couldn't find a way to help Toby, she didn't have the strength of it, especially now with a baby on the way, but how could she leave him there?

So consumed was she by her thoughts and her sadness, that she was barely even aware of the parked car that suddenly roared to life and came racing towards her…

**A/N So I thought I'd give you two chapters as the last one was so short. Enjoy!**


	10. Chapter 10

The next day Jareth's parents returned to the Labyrinth. None of them had managed to get any sleep, all worrying over whether Jareth could actually achieve what he intended to do. Not only did he have to protect Sarah and protect the entire Underground from invasion, but he had to do that as a divided soul, all of which was dependant on his being able to successfully complete the ritual in the first place.

A strained silence reigned when the newly made High King met with his parents in the throne room. The only words that were said were his parents explaining every detail of the dividing ritual again, and Jareth asking endless questions about it. Eventually everything was ready, the day was getting late and they could put it off no longer.

As the ritual was splitting him, in the most basic terms, into a human and a Fae, two humans were needed to assist. These came in the form of Kara, Sarah's friend and Jake, another human slave who Sarah had rescued from Gerard. The ritual began with Jareth sitting cross-legged in the centre of his throne room. His parents and the two mortals stood around him, forming a square of Fae, mortal, Fae, mortal arrangement. The first step was for Jareth to collect his essence to him, draw all the power he possessed into himself. This was not an easy step, Jareth's power came directly from the Labyrinth, his essence made up part of the Kingdom itself, and in drawing it into himself, he withdrew it from his Kingdom. All throughout the Labyrinth Goblins stopped what they were doing and watched the land change around them. The sky went dark, the air turned cold and a wind began to blow throughout the land. Things began to decay, garden's withered visibly, all that was lush and vital began to die. Jareth's magic was a part of the Labyrinth itself, and when he took it back into himself, the Labyrinth lost its vigour.

The process of gathering his essence took hours, the four surrounding him waited until it seemed as though he was almost finished, and then the two Fae began building barriers between them and the mortals. When Jareth had fully collected his power, the barriers suddenly shot into being, visualized as a wall of white light, effectively creating a cage around the High King.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the barrier began to condense, moving closer to the Goblin King. Eventually it became a ring of light, so bright that the four surrounding Jareth had to cover their eyes lest the light blind them. They felt a tremendous heat began to emanate from the ring and the mortals were forced to take steps back, it was only at the point that Kara and Jake thought they couldn't stand any more, that suddenly both the light and the heat vanished. Blinking, all four of the witnesses looked back and stared in shock, for no longer was Jareth alone in the centre, there were two of them, both sitting cross-legged, heads bowed, eyes closed.

For a few seconds the two Kings stayed motionless allowing the witnesses to get a better look at them. There were immediate differences, but they were subtle enough that they would not be noticed unless the two were next to each other. This was a good thing, as it was not anyone's intention that Gerard find out what had happened, in case he should find a way to use the split against them. Yet the differences were there, one Jareth had the same white blonde hair he'd always had, but the other's was darker, still blonde, but a dirty blonde now. The darker haired Jareth had a skin tone a few shades deeper, almost like he'd spent a few extra hours in the sun. The clothes had changed too, the darker King having more leather than cloth in his outfit, the armoured shoulder being black instead of gray.

Suddenly both of the King's opened their eyes and therein lay the biggest difference. The mismatched eyes were reversed, one had a dialated left pupil, the other had a dialated right pupil. Both still had blue eyes, but again, one had darker eyes than the other. It was obvious instantly, that the lighter King was the mortal man, the darker was the Fae. For a while silence reigned as the witnesses stood waiting for a reaction from the men in front of them. Throughout the Labyrinth, the magic was being restored, but it was not quite as great as it had been, part of its essence was now separated from it and all the creatures with the Labyrinth felt this absence and wondered as to its cause.

After only a few moments, the darker Jareth began to smirk before jumping lightly to his feet. The lighter Jareth stood also, but his movements were less fluid, more human. They continued to stare at each other for a while longer, until finally the darker Jareth opened his mouth to speak. Whatever he had intended to say was lost as both halves were assaulted by the vision of their Sarah in danger. The bond between Sarah and Jareth was so strong that when Sarah caught sight of the car racing towards her, both Jareth's saw the exact same thing. It was this vision that halted the darker Jareth's words, and instantly the lighter one transported himself Aboveground. When he reached there he didn't even have time to think, he simply reacted, throwing himself bodily at Sarah and moving them both out of the path of the car.

They hit the ground hard, all of Sarah's old injuries shooting pain throughout her body. The pain in her arm was so severe that it took her a few seconds to ascertain that it wasn't broken again. Once the initial pain had passed it gave her a chance to assess what had just happened. It was over so quickly she could barely get her head around it. She'd gone from walking down the street, to seeing a car moving towards her at an increasing speed, to being bowled over by someone who had just saved her life.

She looked up to see a fair man stood in front of her, holding out his hand to help her to her feet. Without even thinking she reached out for it, but the second their skin touched her fear of men came to the fore and she snatched her hand back before climbing to her feet by herself. Now stood facing the stranger she could study him properly. He was a few inches taller than her, slender, and very fair of skin and his blonde hair was rapidly becoming plastered to his head with the rain that had begun to fall. Sarah had to force herself to pay attention to what he was saying. Her mind was so consumed by the vision of him, that she missed the first half and had to get him to repeat it.

Jareth couldn't help but smile as he asked again whether she was hurt. In fact it took all his restraint not to take her in his arms and smother her with kisses. To finally see her again was a blessing he feared he'd never have, but to not be able to touch her was a true test of his strength. If he scared her now he'd lose her, he knew this, he had to go slowly. To protect her he needed to be close to her, he couldn't do that if he scared her away.

Sarah meanwhile had regained her wits enough to answer that she wasn't seriously hurt, just a few cuts and bruises. She was of course shocked by almost being hit by a car though, and now there was a man stood in front of her who was a complete stranger, and yet her instincts were not telling her to be afraid of him. In fact she felt a familiarity with this man that was just not possible. Once again her mind was wandering and he had to repeat his suggestion that they should get her checked out at the hospital as she'd hit the ground pretty hard. Immediately terror shot through her, she'd spent too long in hospital, she couldn't go back there. Quickly she reiterated that she was fine, thanked him for his help and made to leave.

As Jareth watched her begin to walk away he felt his heart sink, he couldn't lose her, not so quickly.

"Wait." He called out after her.

Almost instantly she stopped and turned back to face him.

"Please, at least let me buy you a drink, I don't like the idea of you walking home by yourself when you might be injured."

For a second Sarah was tempted to carry on walking, she may not fear this man, but she certainly didn't trust him, her attack had left her more than a little paranoid when it came to men. Yet he had a point, and in the end her fear of walking home in the dark alone, especially after almost having been run down, overrode her fear of this handsome stranger and she decided to take him up on his offer.


	11. Chapter 11

"What the hell is he doing up there?"

Gerard almost fell off his chair at the sound of his mistress's voice suddenly thundering through the room. He'd been poring over maps of the Underground, trying to find a weak spot for invasion and hadn't even realised she'd returned until she'd spoken. Her voice was filled with anger but confusion was clearly the overriding emotion.

"What's who doing where?"

"Jareth, Aboveground, with _her_."

The malice in the final word didn't even shock Gerard anymore, he'd come to expect nothing less.

"How do you know he's Aboveground?"

"Because I went up there to kill that mortal bitch and he saved her!"

Once again the anger had taken over her and Gerard instinctively braced himself for some kind of attack. It was times like these he really hated his lover. Her attacks on Sarah only served as a strong reminder that she could pass freely between the barriers of all worlds, whereas he was confined to traveling between those with weak barriers. That he could no longer travel Aboveground for new slaves, tortured him. The slave markets of the worlds he could travel to were abundant, but having to buy slaves was degrading, it marked him as a King of lesser. Having a mistress who could traverse all boundaries but would not bring him slaves because of her overpowering hatred for a single mortal girl only incensed him further. But she would not hear his arguments, and he was still curious as to what was going on with Jareth.

"So Jareth's Aboveground now?"

"This is what I don't understand. Yesterday he gets made High King of the Underground so he can better protect the Labyrinth and today he's Aboveground saving her! He wouldn't just abandon his Kingdom, which means he must be traveling between the worlds. But doing so repeatedly will weaken him, why would he risk that when he's on the verge of war?"

Gerard's thoughts were going in the same direction. He opened his mouth to speak but before he got the chance his mistress was gone. To where, he had no idea, he never did, and he knew better than to ask. Sighing he turned his attention back to his maps and dreams of finally becoming the Goblin King with all the mortal children that went with the job.

**A/N A short chapter but there's another one on it's way very soon! Thank you as always for the reviews!!!**


	12. Chapter 12

They walked quickly in silence to the nearest pub and when they got there Jareth immediately bought her a drink, not shocked in the least when she asked for something non-alcoholic. There was a few seconds of uncomfortable silence when they first sat down, neither really knowing what to say. Eventually it was Sarah who spoke.

"I never thanked you, without you I'd be dead. I guess in the shock my manners went out of my head. But thank you. I'm Sarah, by the way."

Jareth smiled charmingly in return.

"I'm Jareth." He saw no reason to hide his real name. "And don't mention it, saving damsels in distress is all part of a days work for me."

Sarah felt her barriers crumble just that little bit more when he flashed his brilliant smile at her. She couldn't understand what it was about this man that made her feel relaxed, and yet there was still that underlying distrust in her.

"But what happened? That car didn't just set off, it was aiming for you."

Sarah felt her heart sink at those words, she'd been trying to tell herself it had just been an accident, but there was no denying it now she'd heard it from another. Someone had tried to kill her. She felt all her old fears rise up and couldn't stop the tears that began to form in her eyes. Ashamed at her weakness she dropped her head, letting her hair fall to cover her face. Almost immediately she felt a finger under her chin gently lift a head so she was facing this handsome stranger again. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands before speaking.

"I'm sorry, I must seem like such an idiot, I've just been going through a hard time lately."

The words sounded weak and self-pitying, even to her, but his eyes showed no derision towards her only a kind sympathy. It was only as she was looking into his eyes that she realised one of them was dialated. Jareth caught her looking and said "My eye right? Got something stuck in it when I was younger. It's been this way ever since."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare."

Jareth told her not to apologise for simple curiosity, but he felt the need to change the subject before she asked what he'd got stuck in it. He didn't feel like explaining that Gerard had smashed a chair over his back and one of the splinters had somehow ended up in his eye. They both had troubled pasts, but this wasn't about him, it was about her. It was always about her.

"So tell me what it is that's got you so upset… other than the near death experience obviously."

The humourous glint in his eye was enough to get Sarah talking. She didn't know what it was about this man that made her feel at ease, but suddenly she felt the need to talk about what happened, not to a doctor who was assessing her mental state, or to a friend who looked at her with undiluted pity, but to a complete stranger. To someone who wouldn't judge her, who would just listen. That's what she needed right now, someone to listen.

When she finished telling him about her attack and her life since waking from the coma, minus the news about her being pregnant, she felt like a weight had been lifted, like it was easier to breathe somehow. However she waited in tense silence for a few seconds, scared of how Jareth would respond to the tale she'd just told him.

"I have some idea of what you're going through."

Sarah looked at him with genuine shock on her face, of all the things she'd expected, that was not one of them.

"I was abused as a child, not sexually, but…"

"But it's all mental abuse in the end." Sarah finished for him. Her distrust of him had faded further with his revelation. Here was someone who knew, at least partly, what she was going through. She felt the mysterious bond with this stranger growing. Deep inside was the niggling thought that maybe he was just saying all this to gain her trust, but she couldn't shake the feeling of kinship with this man, this stranger. The feelings were completely new to her, for months she'd been terrified of men, and before her attack, she'd never really been in any kind of relationship. Yet here was a man, who'd walked into her life, and within an hour discovered her most painful secret, but he hadn't made her feel guilty for it, like it was somehow her fault. The understanding in his eyes and his manner had, for the first time, made her feel like her attack was nothing to be ashamed of.

They spent the rest of the night talking, Sarah told him everything about her life, her family, her friends. In return, Jareth told her the story of his life. Sort of. The early years were true, born to a mother out of wedlock, lived with her shame and abuse until he was ten years old. At this point he'd been wished away and then given to Gerard, but of course he couldn't tell Sarah this. Instead he told her that he'd been fostered out. After that, he stuck to the truth as much as possible. An abusive foster father, eventually adopted by another family where he was loved, but he could never forget the pain of his early years. Whilst he was telling his story Sarah realised just how easy it would be to feel sorry for him, except he didn't feel sorry for himself. He was obviously still tormented by his past at times, but it did not haunt him, he was strong. Sarah admired him for that.

Before they knew it the pub was closing and Jareth offered to walk her home, but in the end had to settle for paying for her a taxi. Sarah felt a strong bond to this man, but she still couldn't trust him entirely, for all she knew, all he'd said could have been a lie, and he was as dangerous as any other man out there. However she did give him her phone number. She liked him, she couldn't say why, but she did, and she wanted to see him again.

After Jareth had bundled Sarah into a taxi he was left alone with his thoughts. As always his magic had given him all the information that he needed to survive in this world, coupled with the little he remembered of his life before Gerard had taken him. But of Sarah, of how to proceed with her, his magic could give him nothing. He quickly found a hotel and booked himself in, after which he was left to do nothing but think. He couldn't be too hasty with Sarah, lest he scare her off, but at the same time, after the attack on her life today, he couldn't risk leaving her alone. He soon resorted to his usual method of using crystals to watch her. Though his powers were slightly decreased in this mortal form, he still had enough for what he needed.

After checking Sarah was okay he used the crystal to speak to his parents. Thankfully his other half wasn't with them, he was still uneasy knowing he was only half a soul. He quickly explained to his parents what had happened, and although they were glad he'd made a good first contact, they all agreed that the near miss was not an accident. Whoever was driving that car had meant to hit Sarah, and although Jareth's parents told him there was nothing to support the theory, Jareth was certain that this near-miss was linked with Sarah's original attack. Yet that left him confused as to who was doing this. Gerard had good motive, but no means, he couldn't transverse the barrier to Aboveground, so who was it that was plotting against his Sarah.

He couldn't answer that, and spent the next few hours watching Sarah, pondering their situation. He was well aware that she had not mentioned her pregnancy when she'd been telling him her story. Obviously she still hadn't even begun to come to terms with it yet, in her mind the baby was the result of the rape, he couldn't imagine how that was affecting her. That wasn't all that was going through his head though, he knew the truth, the baby Sarah carried was his, his child, his heir. It was then he realised that the attacks on Sarah may not be linked, they could simply be a rival Ruler of another world trying to destroy his heir in an attempt to weaken him. Yet the theory just didn't seem to work, as plausible as it was, something was telling him this was more that just a bid for his throne. Eventually, once he was sure Sarah was safe and sleeping soundly, he retired to bed, but his dreams were uneasy, and his sleep light.

**A/N Told you there was another chapter coming very soon. **


	13. Chapter 13

Parthanon and Saliene were sat in their old throne room, although Jareth had ascended to High King, he preferred to rule from the Labyrinth, the realm he still thought of as 'his' Kingdom, and so his parents had remained in their castle. The conversation was strained, the topic, of course, was the impending war. Neither of them wanted to admit how dire the situation was becoming, but this was no time for fear, they had to confront this war or they would have no chance of ever winning it, and yet Parthanon was still unsure as to whether he had done the right thing making Jareth High King. It was as they were discussing his decision that their chief war advisor entered the room with news on the Fae army's assembly. It was clear from his face that the news was not good.

"I'm sorry your majesty, but the Fae nobles just will not mobilize. This is not their war to fight, Jareth is not their King, Trea is, and as you know he will not fight. His hatred for mortals blinds him against the Underground's plight. I'm afraid you may have made a grave mistake in handing over your throne Your Majesty. If this war is lost, Gerard will not only rule the Labyrinth, but the whole of the Underground as well."

The advisor had just voiced Parthenon's fear. As Goblin King, Jareth could only have surrendered the Labyrinth, but as High King, the entire Underground was his to rule, and his to lose. The thought of having his former subjects under the rule of a slave driver filled Parthanon with anger and dread, but under the circumstances what else could he have done, sat and watched his son and his subject's slaughtered? No, he'd done only what he could. And yet it didn't seem to be enough. Without an army Jareth could not possibly win.

"Why won't they fight? They are his subjects now, Trea rules under Jareth, he has no authority in this war!"

The anger was clear in his voice, causing the advisor to tremble slightly, but he had to speak on the Fae's behalf, after all, he was one of those refusing to go to war.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry, but these Fae have no love for Jareth, they barely know him. And all know that this war is over Sarah, why should they fight, and probably die over a mortal?"

The anger in Parthanon burst out, knocking the advisor flat. Parthanon had only met Sarah twice, and yet it had been enough, he loved her as a daughter and would not hear her name spoken with the scorn that had been in his advisor's voice. The advisor quickly scrambled to his feet and began speaking in an attempt to calm his former ruler.

"Your Majesty forgive me, I merely speak the minds of the people, you know this is true. Regardless of reasons, the Fae nobles will not fight, and without them, Jareth has no army."

"Well now, I wouldn't say that was exactly true now was it, you little worm."

The Goblin King had appeared in the corner some moments ago and had been listening intently to all that was said. He was lounging against the wall with his arms crossed, staring arrogantly at the man he had just insulted. The advisor was scared and it showed. Whenever the advisor had seem him at social events and visits Jareth had always been charming and fun, but there was always an underlying current of cruelty, who knew how cruel he really could be if provoked.

The newly made High King laughed at the fear that was evident in the advisor's eyes.

"Well I suppose silence is preferable to your lies." He said, pushing himself off the wall and striding up the advisor, who stood over a foot shorter than he was. A Fae/Gnome half-breed, the advisor had always been shorter than true Fae, and they had never really accepted him into the Noble Fae society, a fact that had always riled him. Knowing his weakness and wishing to scare him further, Jareth picked the advisor up by shirt and held him at eye level.

"Now, how about you stop speaking for a while and let the true Fae speak, no more lies from you on behalf of your beloved Nobles."

With that Jareth dropped him and strode towards his parents leaving the advisor sprawled on the floor.

"So back to my army. The lies I spoke of refer to that little piss ant saying I have no Fae army. That is simply not true." As he paused he created a throne opposite his parent's and sat with his feet thrown over one arm as was his habit. "Another lie is that Sarah is a mortal, we both know she is now Fae, a Faery in fact, the highest form of Fae, hell she even outranks me." The Goblin King chuckled to himself at the thought, causing his parents to glance uneasily at each other. This was a dark version of their son, and it was unnerving watching him sometimes, this was a glimpse as to how he could have turned out had he not been taken into their care. It was a sobering thought.

"Sarah may be living as a mortal Aboveground now, but she is no less Fae for it. I have bound her powers to stop her discovering them accidentally, but she is a Faery none the less. And the Faeries are a close bunch as you know. The elder, Lord Lenea does not take kindly to the threats and insults hurled at his newest daughter of the clan, not kindly at all. In fact I think the words he used this morning were 'that cretin will rue the day he threatened our Lady Sarah. She is a kind soul and her act was nothing but pure, she shall not be punished for it. The Faeries will muster for war and we shall not rest until Gerard and all the miscreants that follow him have been eliminated. Sarah shall be avenged!' Slightly over the top, but you get his gist. So,"

Jareth continued, rising from this throne to walk back over to where the advisor had been stood watching Jareth speak.

"It seems I do have a Fae army, in fact, I have a Faery army."

The advisor almost stammered over his response.

"But the Faeries number in their hundreds, Gerard has thousands of subjects willing to fight."

"True, interesting thing though, my subjects aren't all Fae, thankfully." Jareth responded, beginning to pace slowly between his parents and their advisor, his words becoming animated by his movements. "Now Trea may not be willing to fight, but I do have two other brothers. Both Sarnoth and Markon have volunteered to fight…"

He was cut off at that point by the advisors outburst.

"But they are royalty! They cannot possibly…"

He never got to finish his sentence, the air flow to his lungs was restricted as Jareth once again lifted him from the floor, this time by his neck, effectively strangling him as he held the advisor's face inches from his own.

"You may have been my parent's advisor but you are not mine. Speak out of turn again and I'll remake the bog of stench right in your back garden and throw you in it."

The menace was clear in his voice and the advisor almost passed out from fear, never mind the lack of oxygen to his brain.

Seconds later Jareth threw him to the ground again before he continued.

"However I do agree, I am the only royal that can fight this battle, so my brothers must stay at home like the good little husbands they are. But before they went back to their wives they made a lovely little plea to their subjects, you know the one, family in trouble, we must defend the Kingdom, blah blah blah."

The Goblin King spoke in an off hand way, even waving his arm at the end as though the words he spoke were not important. But the glint in his eye and the arrogant smile that crept onto his face as he paused told a different tale.

"Turns out that family values mean something to Animalanis and Elementals, because when the Faery army musters against Gerard's invasion, they'll be flanked on either side by every able bodied subject from Sarnoth and Markon's Kingdoms."

Though all the while his parents had been silent, they had been listening intently to every word their son spoke, and by the end the flame of hope had been planted firmly in their hearts. With three of their son's Kingdoms united, there was a good chance they could win this war. As merpeople, Gerard's subject had just one form on land and limited magic. The Faeries were the most powerful magic creature in existence, the Animalanis had many a fierce animal form they could use to fight in, the Elementals could call on the power of the earth, the sky, water and fire, and Goblins were a fierce race to a one. An army like that, superior in strength, skill, magic and intelligence, could surely not be beaten by Gerard's army.

By this time the advisor had once again extracted himself from the floor, and although slightly hoarse and rubbing his throat, he managed to speak a single sentence before Jareth lost his temper and hurled him against the wall knocking him unconscious.

"You are not the only King with allies…"


	14. Chapter 14

Gerard paced anxiously waiting for his mistress to return, with the madness now clear to see, it was always a worrying time when she left him. He had never been given an explanation of the thoughts that had gone through her head in her silence after Jareth's coronation. He still didn't know the plan that had changed her expression from blank to the evil smile that had scared him so much. Her absence could only mean one thing, she was out working on her plan. It was not a comforting thought.

Eventually he felt the tell-tale shift of power in the air that meant she was back. When he turned around he found her lounging on the bed, a lazy smile on her face, her eyes half closed. Gerard had never seen her like this, he didn't know what this meant. Cautiously he walked over to the bed and called her name gently. She groaned quietly, closing her eyes fully in response. When Gerard called her name a second time she opened her eyes slowly and looked at him.

"What happened?"

His mistress smiled lazily before answering in a drowsy voice.

"Did you know, that none of the Creatures of the Land had ever touched a Fae, not one?"

Gerard was horrified. The Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth were not to be trifled with, they were dangerous. That was the whole reason for the Caves, a safe place where the Creatures of the Land couldn't reach them. The fact that his mistress had even conversed with them was terrifying enough, but that wasn't all she was telling him.

"What do you mean, they_ had _never been touched by a Fae. What have you done?"

Once again his mistress chuckled before answering.

"I mean just that, I spoke to them, and they hadn't been touched by a Fae, not once." She paused as she rolled slowly onto her side and closed her eyes once again. "I just didn't think that was right, most of them haven't even seen a Fae. Can you imagine that, never seeing a Fae?"

Her voice trailed off at the end, it was clear she was going to fall asleep so Gerard went and physically shook her until she pushed him off her. She grinned again before continuing.

"See, Jareth's uniting his brother's armies, and that's bad, we need more to fight for us. And you've got all those creatures just sat around up there. And they're fierce, hell that's why you're hiding down here." She said, laughing at Gerard as she did so.

The comment riled Gerard as she'd known it would, but she didn't stop to let him answer back.

"So I figure, why not use them. They didn't even attack me…" Her voice was trailing off again, so Gerard shook her until she recovered enough to continue. "They were just in awe, I told you some had never even seen a Fae, and none of them had ever touched one."

As she stopped speaking once again it all became clear to Gerard.

"You made them all Fae touched."

The awe in his voice was clearly audible. His mistress merely giggled in reply but it was obvious what had happened, obvious why she was acting like this. To be Fae touched involves both the giving and receiving of power. In making a Creature of the Land of Arnagoth Fae touched, his mistress had given them a tiny amount of her power, but she would have taken more of their essence into her. It was a way of binding someone to you. You give them a taste of your magic and take part of their essence, so they are forever linked to you. Even if you give them their essence back, they will always crave the magic you showed them. From what his mistress was saying, and how she was acting, she had clearly Fae touched every single Creature of the Land, taking that much essence… she was drunk on it, intoxicated, and would be for quite a few hours. As he looked at her she was all but unconscious, but she had the strength for one final sentence.

"They will fight for us. All of them…"

Gerard couldn't believe what he'd just heard. In fact he felt the need to sit down his shock was so great. Gerard had worried about Jareth uniting the Underground's armies ever since he found out that the Goblin King had become the High King, and yet he felt no fear now he knew this to be true. The Creatures of the Land would fight for him, they would fight with his army. With an army that fierce… Gerard grinned manically, unable to keep the glee from his face. Thanks to his mistress, defeat was no longer possible. He would win the war. He would take the Underground. And he would destroy the Goblin King as he did so.


	15. Chapter 15

Sarah awoke the next day with a smile on her face. Her first thoughts were of the handsome stranger she'd met the day before, and she couldn't help but be happy at the memory. She didn't understand why he made her feel this way, she was just glad that he did. Of course she had no way of knowing that as she was thinking of him, he was watching her in a crystal. Just as he had no way of knowing that the smile on her face was for him, but he could guess. He considered ringing her right there and then, but he didn't want to risk scaring her off, despite her instinctual attraction to him, she was still fragile. He had to be careful. So he pledged that he would leave it until tomorrow before he rang her.

Of course saying so and doing so were too different things. He didn't leave his room that day, he just spent all the time watching her, scared that she would be attacked again. Whoever was arranging these attacks on her certainly wouldn't have given up, yet no matter how long he thought about it, he couldn't think who would possibly be helping Gerard.

He spent the day in a state of constant agitation, torn between not wanting to scare Sarah off and not wanting to leave her alone with the risk of attack. Sarah meanwhile was confusing her friends. For months they'd been doing all they could to keep her mind off her attack, to try and make her happy, and suddenly it seemed to have worked. She'd not had any nightmares for a few nights, and here she was, up and about rather early for her standards, and smiling. There was a melancholy to her eyes that it seemed would never leave her, but despite that, she looked happy. At first they didn't want to ask her about it, scared it would dispel her happiness, but as the day went on they could not contain their curiosity and confronted her about her good mood. At this point Sarah smiled even more, recounting the tale of the previous day.

At first Amber and Mark thought her mood was simply down to her day with Toby, indeed she seemed to be back to her old self, getting more animated as the tale went on. When she got to the part about her nearly being hit by a car, her friends didn't know what to think, so worried were they for their friend, but as the tale continued, the reason for Sarah's good mood became clear. However, no matter how pleased they were by Sarah's happiness, their over protectiveness came to the fore quickly. Their distrust of men had deepened over the past months, just as Sarah's had. Although they wanted to believe this man was good, they were terrified of something happening to their friend. When they confronted Sarah about their fears though, she responded by telling them she shared their worry, hell she felt it even more keenly than they did. She was going to be cautious around this man. Yet for all her words Amber could see the truth that lay behind them. She was falling for him. That much was clear. Amber just prayed he really was one of the nice ones. God help him if he wasn't, because if her hurt her Sarah, Amber wasn't sure she'd be able to restrain herself.

For Jareth, watching Sarah and his old subjects talk was soothing. To know the Sarah was falling for him again, despite not remembering him, warmed his heart. And as much as he hated to admit it, he was rather looking forward to seeing Carnice and Hoggle again. Not that he'd ever let them know that of course.

The hours dragged by as he watched Sarah, unable to leave off his vigil for fear of another attack on her life. Eventually Sarah went to bed and it was only when she was sleeping soundly that Jareth gave in to sleep too, vowing the next day he would ring her.

However Sarah didn't sleep long. Throughout the day she'd distracted herself with thoughts of Jareth, but at night, in bed, alone with her thoughts, she could no longer control them. She could ignore it during the daytime, but at night, the fact that she was pregnant was suddenly at the forefront of her mind. Her morning sickness had hardly affected her that day, for which she was grateful, but she could feel the threat of it constantly. She had begun to accept that it was real, but that just made it all the harder to deal with. She was pregnant with the child of one of her rapists. The thought terrified her, she had no idea what to do about it. Her mind was screaming at her to abort it, to have a child of rape was inconceivable to her. It would be a constant reminder of her pain, how would she be able to feel anything other than revulsion towards it? But even as the thought passed through her head she knew it was a lie, she would love this child, in truth she already did. Although she wanted to get rid of it, at the same time the thought of aborting her unborn child filled her with pain. After all it was _her_ child, it was a part of her. But it was also a part of them…

Her thoughts went around in circles all night, until she eventually fell asleep a few hours before dawn, exhausted, but no closer to a decision.

**A/N I probably won't update for another week now as I'm off to Paris for a long weekend, but I hope you enjoy this one, let me know what you think, all reviews are greatly appreciated as always!!**

**I'd also just like to add an apology if the issues of abortion and rape are upsetting to any of my readers, I felt they were necessary in the route of the story, but I can appreciate these bits may not be easy to read. The issues are very short lived in the story though so I hope you will bear with me through the next few chapters.**


	16. Chapter 16

The Goblin King was furious. When his parents' advisor had finally come round again, Jareth had done everything in his power to try and find out what he'd meant by Jareth not being the only king with allies. Yet all his efforts were in vain, the foul little creature just would not talk. Intimidation, torture, the threat of death, none of it worked, the little piss ant was clearly more terrified of whoever he was working for, than he was of Jareth. And it was this that had Jareth so angry, not knowing who Gerard's allies were was annoying, but knowing there was someone out there that terrified his subjects more than him? That would not be borne.

As he stormed into his throne room back at the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth, the Goblins scattered immediately. They still didn't know about the split, all they knew was that something important had happened that had affected the very magic of the Labyrinth itself, and their King too. They were no longer sure about how cruel he could be, and as a result they were extra cautious. Although none of them dared leave the room without the King's express permission, they all crowded the walls, trying to get as far away from their infuriated King as was possible.

Jareth threw himself into his throne and began to think, tapping his leg with his riding crop and his lip with his finger as he did so. As the minutes ticked by with no attack, the Goblins slowly began edging their way back towards the throne. It was a while before Jareth noticed what they were doing, and when he did, he laughed. At least some of his subjects were still afraid of him.

As usual his bad mood didn't last long and soon he was back to discussing defensive strategies with his war advisor, Sir Didymus. Yet always in the back of his mind he was thinking on his parent's advisor's words. Allies. Who would side with Gerard? He was lower than scum, mocked and hated by everyone, even his own people didn't respect him, most simply feared him. For a second Jareth wondered if that was who the advisor had been scared of, but he found himself chuckling at the thought There was no way in this world or any other, that someone would find Gerard more terrifying than the Goblin King was when he was angry.

**A/N A little evil Jareth for you as an apology for the gap before my next update.**


	17. Chapter 17

When the phone rang the next morning Sarah's hand shot out and answered it before either of her housemates had even registered it was ringing. Jareth had waited until she had eventually gotten out of bed before ringing her, and although he had intended to start things off slowly, the happiness he heard in Sarah's voice when she answered pushed him to suggest they meet up that very same day. A simple luncheon date was soon followed by ice cream and stroll in the park. Sarah found herself completely relaxed with him, something she couldn't entirely fathom. To have been so terrified of every male she met, and now trust this one so openly, was confusing to say the least. But he made her happy. When she was with him, she forgot her past, all that mattered were her and Jareth.

For Jareth the day was bittersweet, to be near his beloved Sarah again was heaven, but to be so close to her and not be able to touch her was breaking his heart. So many times he'd wanting to hold her, to kiss her gently, and yet he knew if he did she'd run, so he restrained himself, no matter how hard it might have been.

Over the next few weeks Sarah and Jareth met almost everyday. Dinners, walks, long conversations during which Jareth had to create an entire life history for himself. Sarah even invited him over to hers for dinner one evening, giving Amber and Mark the chance to meet him. They both agreed with Sarah that he was one of the good ones, and although they would never truly stop worrying about her, their fears were at least abated.

For Sarah the days passed quickly and pleasantly. When she was with Jareth she was happy and content, she missed him when he wasn't there, as though a part of her were missing. It left her a little uneasy at how quickly she'd fallen for him and just how strong her feelings were, but at the same time, it felt so natural, it couldn't possibly be wrong.

The nights however were a different matter. Her insomnia was getting worse, she no longer had the nightmares, but in the night, when she was alone, her mind would not shut off. Memories of her attack invaded her thoughts and she'd find herself with her hands placed over her belly. As each night passed her fears increased. How could she love this child of rape? How could it be anything other than a living, breathing reminder of her pain? She loved it instinctually, but every thought of it was another sword through her heart.

As the weeks passed, she found herself worrying more and more, she began dreaming of horrid deformed babies that attacked her, her rapists and her child merged into one. The nightmares returned and were worse than ever. Eventually, three weeks after she had discovered she was pregnant, she woke up drenched in sweat, tears running freely down her cheeks. She been in bed for 6 hours, fearing to sleep, knowing the second she did the nightmare would return. She'd been asleep for less than half an hour, and now she was awake, heart racing, breath coming in short gasps, the fear an almost physical presence. She couldn't take this anymore, she loved her child, she couldn't help it, but the pain was too much. She didn't have the strength to bring this child into the world, and give it the life it deserved, neither could she give birth to it and give it away. The sobs wracked her body, the breaking of her heart almost palpable, but the decision had been made. She couldn't have this baby. In the morning she was making an appointment with the abortionist.

**A/N So my laptop is still broken, but I've stolen my parents computer tonight and thought I'd give you a couple of chapters while I had the chance. So sorry for the delays but until I get my laptop fixed it's inevitable. Thank you once again for reading, and as always, all reviews are gratefully received!**


	18. Chapter 18

Jareth watched his beloved Sarah crying. He knew she was having nightmares, just as he knew they were getting worse. Yet he was helpless, how could he reveal that he knew she was having nightmares without letting her know how he knew that. She wasn't ready to find out about the Labyrinth, maybe she never would be. What hurt him the most was that he didn't know what the nightmares were about. He knew they had left her weeks ago, but they'd come back not long after. He'd tried to broach the subject with her, mentioned that she'd looked tired. All he'd gotten from her was a quick burst of fear in her eyes, before she batted his comments away, simply saying she was having trouble sleeping lately, but she wouldn't give him any more details than that. It was tearing him apart watching her go through this, knowing that there was nothing he could do to help.

Eventually, seeing she had fallen asleep once again, Jareth went back to bed. If she woke up again, he'd feel it through the crystals and wake as well.

The next morning he tried to ring Sarah but got no answer. After an hour of trying both her house phone and mobile he began to get worried. He created a crystal, something he'd not done until then because if she'd been in danger, his magic would have alerted him. However when he tried to conjure up the image of her, he got nothing. The panic shot through him. There were only two explanations as to why he could not see her. One was that she had somehow managed to access her powers, whether consciously or subconsciously, and she was blocking his crystal gazing. The second was the one that filled him with terror. Someone else could be blocking his power, which meant that someone had to have Sarah in their possession.

Not caring about the consequences, he immediately transported himself outside her house. He knocked repeatedly for a full minute before ascertaining that no one was home and then he transported himself to Sarah's bedroom. He began looking around for clues of where she was but he found nothing. Really beginning to worry he'd started to search the rest of house. Everything seemed normal, no sign of struggle, no indication Sarah had been taken, it soothed him slightly but he still could not see Sarah in his crystals, and he wouldn't feel calm until he found her.

Eventually he walked into the kitchen and found the note stuck to the fridge door.

_Amber/Mark_

_I don't want you to worry about me if you come back to find I'm not home. I know what I'm doing. Believe me when I say, that this was not an easy decision for me to come to, I cannot tell you the hours I have spent lying awake at night, the same thoughts running over and over in my head. This is not something I take lightly, even writing this I am crying. The baby I carry now is my baby and I love it, but there's a pain in me that can never be truly erased, and as such, if I had this baby, I could never give it the love and happiness that every child deserves. I will not bring a child into this world to grow up knowing it is causing its mother pain simply by being there, no child deserves that. Neither can I carry it in my body for nine months and then hand it over to another, that would hurt even more. There is no way out of this situation, no way that will not cause more pain, but this seems to be the only thing I can do. If I have this baby, I won't be able to cope, so I am terminating the pregnancy. I ask you only one thing, please do not condemn me for my actions. You're my closest friends, I love you both, I could not bear it if you turned your back on me because of this. I need you now more than ever. Please, I beg you, continue being the friends you've always been to me…._

_Love Sarah_

Jareth felt his heart stop as he read the words, as he saw the obvious tear stains on the paper. He could not blame Sarah for her actions, she still thought the baby she carried was the rapists, she had no idea it was his, no idea who he truly was, who she was. In the circumstances, he understood her decision, but the situation was not what she thought it to be, and she could not terminate their child. His pain kept him rooted to the spot for another few minutes, as he struggled to form a coherent thought, to form a plan. It was obvious now that Sarah was blocking his magic. She knew that people would try to stop her if they knew what she was doing, which is why she'd gone alone, and told no one before hand. Her desire to not be discovered had inadvertently awakened her magic. But without being able to watch her in his crystals, Jareth had no idea how he was going to find her, and so panicked was he, it took him a while to put his thoughts into order.

It was only as he was trying to think of a plan that he heard the front door go. Instantly he flew to it, praying it was Sarah, but it was Amber. He quickly explained the situation to her, desperate for her to grasp the situation quickly and help him. Carnice had always had a calm temperament, something she had not lost in her human form. Within seconds she had taken out the phone book and found the numbers of the nearest abortion clinics. The note didn't say where Sarah had gone, nor what time her appointment was, but luckily for them there was only one clinic in the immediate area. Knowing he couldn't transport with Amber, and that should he remove the magic and return her to her Fae form, she would be disorientated for a while, losing them even more time, Jareth simply ran out of the house. Amber kept up with him all the way, she couldn't understand the desperation in this man who'd known her friend a scant few weeks. She was aware something was going on that he was not explaining and there was no way was she letting her friend face him alone. Regardless of Sarah's decision, Amber would be there for her, she would not let this man, as genuine as he seemed, force Sarah into doing something she didn't want to.

Sarah meanwhile was already in her hospital gown, awaiting the doctor's arrival. Her heart was beating swiftly, she couldn't keep her hands still so great were her nerves, and every once in a while, a stray tear found its way down her cheek. Her heart was telling her not to do this, to love this child instead and keep it safe, but her pain was too great. She'd rung the abortion clinic as soon as it had opened and been told that she was lucky, they'd had a cancellation and had an appointment available in just over an hour. Sarah didn't feel lucky though, she felt disgusted, disgusted that she was about to do this to her own flesh and blood, but she simply could not live with it. After all she'd been through, she would not be able to care for this child properly, she could not be a good mother, and of all the things she had failed at in this life, failing as a parent just was not an option.

She heard the door open and looked up through her tears expecting to see a doctor, but what she saw shocked her to the core. There in the doorway stood Jareth and Amber. She felt her heart race at the sight of him, love filling her instantly, before it was erased by the shame she felt at what she was about to do. She hated herself for it, truly hated herself. She couldn't even look at either of them, scared to see their disapproval. Instead she looked at the floor and watched Jareth's shadow walk towards her until his feet were a mere few inches from the edge of the bed on which she sat. Still she could not make herself look at him, but when he placed his finger under her chin, she could not resist the gentle pressure of his finger raising her head. When she finally looked into his eyes she saw a pain there that was unexplainable. There were a few seconds of silence, neither of them knowing what to do. Sarah still determined to go ahead with the procedure, Jareth unable to think of anything to say to convince her to change her mind.

Eventually there was only one thing Jareth could think to do. Slowly, very slowly, he lifted Sarah's chin a little higher, and closing his eyes, leant in to kiss her, giving her the opportunity to stop him at any time. Although they had gotten to know each other well, never once had he kissed her, well aware that too sudden an advance could destroy the rapport he'd spent weeks building. But there was nothing he could say now, no way to show her how he felt, other than this.

As Sarah felt his lips on hers finally, she felt the love in her burst out. She knew instinctively that this was the man she was meant to spend the rest of her life with. But as the euphoria shot through her she felt a pressure begin to build in her head. Within seconds she froze, paralysed by the pain inside her skull, before suddenly something snapped. The present disappeared and she was assaulted by memories. She remembered the Underground, remembered Jareth, remembered her runs through the Labyrinth and the month she had spent there with Jareth. She remembered his family, and finally, she remembered Gerard and the reason she had been sent Aboveground.

She pulled away from his kiss, stunned momentarily by its revelations, unable to speak or move for the thoughts tumbling around her head. It took her a while to begin putting things into order, and Jareth let her take her time. He'd felt the barriers he'd placed around her magic shatter, her love for him breaking through them whilst completely unaware they existed. He understood her confusion, and knew anything he said would only compound it. She had to have the time to organize her thoughts. Amber meanwhile stood in the doorway, not knowing what was going on, but realising it was something important, and that the best thing she could do was remain where she was, quiet and not interfering.

It was quite a few moments before Sarah had integrated her memories of the Labyrinth with those of her life Aboveground. It was only then, when her thoughts were at peace, and her mind back on the present, only then as she looked into the eyes of the man she loved, that the truth of the situation hit her. This baby was his, it was theirs.

The happiness poured out of her, only slightly dimmed by the awful realization of what she had almost done, but it was okay now. The baby was fine, she had Jareth… she had Jareth… Unable to contain herself any longer she threw herself off the bed and into his arms, kissing him again but this time with such unbridled passion that Jareth gasped with shock, before recovering quickly and kissing her back, so relieved to finally be able to hold her, that he felt tears forming in his own eyes.

Amber watched all this in total confusion, only to be assaulted by her own memories as Jareth lifted the spell the blocked them, before instantly transporting both Amber and Mark, or more accurately, Carnice and Hoggle, back to the house they shared with Sarah. It was not time for them to go back to the Underground, neither was it Sarah's time. Danger still awaited her there, and as happy as he felt to finally have her back, there was a shadow over him, knowing that they still had a long fight ahead of them.


	19. Chapter 19

The Goblin King was discussing strategies for the forthcoming war with the heads of his armies and his brothers, all except Trea of course. As yet things were still unclear, Gerard had not officially declared war, in fact he had been strangely silent for weeks. His silence was more worrying that his constant threats, at least then they had known his intentions, now they were in the dark. Yet nevertheless, they could not just wait around for him to reappear. As they spoke, the Goblins, Elementals, Faeries and Animalanis were readying themselves for war. Their armies were great and the preparation would take time.

Though there had been many talks with Trea, all had ended the same way: blazing rows between the brothers that had to be ended by their parents. Were the matter not so serious, it would have been almost comically seeing the boys behaving like children. As it was, millions of lives were at stake, yet Trea refused to join the war, and without his support, his subjects would not muster either. Trea would not admit, even to himself, that the war involved him in any way. His resentment that Jareth had been named High King was too great and he would not lend his armies to the war efforts, despite his own lands being at risk should Jareth lose. His pride fed his stubbornness and eventually the attempts of the royal family to change his mind dwindled, and finally ceased. Now they concentrated on the four armies they had at their disposal, not a force to be sneered at as it was. However there was still the matter of Gerard's allies. An unknown force which no one could figure out. There were many possibilities, but none who seemed likely to be willing to risk their own armies, for another ruler's gain, and it was clear that Gerard would not be offering them much in return. So the question remained as to who these allies were.

There was another matter that was weighing on Jareth's mind, on both halves of his soul. Throughout the past weeks, both had noticed a weakening of their powers. Simple magic began to wear on them, and transporting through the Underground was beginning to exhaust the darker Fae. Never before had this been a problem, and with the magic of the High Rulers in their possession, it should be easier now. Yet as more time passed, the harder it got. Both required at least a few hours sleep every night, whereas in the past they could have gone days without it. The Goblin King feared that his closest advisors had noticed the changes in him, but none were foolish enough to mention it, fearing his wrath. Neither Jareth liked to dwell on these thoughts, but they were always there in the back of their minds. The darker Jareth found himself focused on them now, his mind wandering from the matter at hand, another thing that had plagued him lately. He'd find himself thinking about Sarah at odd times, realising he had lost track completely of what was going on around him.

Noticing that his King was no longer paying attention to his strategy to guard the entrance to the Labyrinth, Sir Didymus cleared his throat, only continuing when the glare his King gave him, showed his mind was now focused on him once again.

For a while Jareth forgot about his increased weakness, but he knew he would have to confront the problem, and soon. But not now, now he had a war to plan.

**A/N So my laptop was fixed, then it broke again, hopefully it should be fixed tonight and then I shall resume my frequent posting. I'm so, so sorry about all these delays, and thank you so much for being patient and sticking with this story, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!!**


	20. Chapter 20

Gerard was rapidly losing his patience and his nerve. The actions of his mistress were getting more and more erratic. One minute she was determined to go to war, the next she was telling him she had a plan that could avoid a war altogether. Her madness was growing day by day and although Gerard continued to plan his campaign, his mistress would not allow him to contact anyone in the Underground now that Jareth had been named High King. As such, the only information he could get from his spies there were ones he managed to speak to when he was sure his mistress was not around and would not return for some time. He had no idea where she went at these times, and if he dared question her she would fly into a rage, accusing him of not trusting her and then would threaten to kill him. Gerard had managed to quiet her down so far, but he could see the madness in her eyes, and he knew that should he push her too far, she would not hesitate to carry out her threat.

His mistress meanwhile was beginning to truly despise Gerard. His fear around her was like a foul stench, she lived for the day he would be out of her life forever, and make no mistake about it, as soon as he had served her purpose and gained her the rulership of the Underground, she would dispose of him immediately.

Her plans she would not divulge to him for many reasons, not least that she didn't trust him one bit. He was a pawn to her, he did not need to know the reasons for her absences. However she feared his stupidity, that he might make a mistake while she was gone that could destroy her whole plan. Yet her absence was unavoidable. Mainly she was watching Sarah, waiting for an opportunity to kill her. Jareth's presence Aboveground was the source of great confusion for her. Whenever she was watching Sarah, he was either there, or she could sense he was watching her too, and from not too far away. However as soon as she ventured to the Underground she found him there too. She could not understand it, and spent more and more time traveling between the two, trying to find a time where Jareth was distracted so she would have another opportunity at Sarah.

As the weeks passed though the time never came, and eventually she was forced to confront Jareth. A seemingly innocent visit to enquire as to his health, the war efforts and general small talk. She did not like what she saw though. This was not that Jareth that she knew, something was different, something was wrong. His sarcasm was a constant throughout their conversation, the wit of his insults was sharper and he came off as ever more cruel. It was a change she admired in him, but feared at the same time. What had caused this change? She couldn't figure it out, and the longer she dwelled on it, the more it frustrated her.

She returned to Aboveground to continue her vigil on Sarah, determined that the first opportunity she got, she would not fail. Sarah would die. The results would be simple, either Jareth would grieve then forget, returning to the Jareth she had known, or he would pitch himself full tilt into the war, a war he could not possibly win now she had the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth on her side. Either way, he would lose, and she would become High Ruler of the Underground. By this point her madness had progressed far enough, that she no longer cared whether Jareth lived or died. So long as she had her throne finally.


	21. Chapter 21

Sarah awoke to find Jareth by her side. When they'd left the abortion clinic the day before they'd gone straight to a café, and sat talking for hours. Jareth had told her all the events that had happened since she had left the Underground. He had explained the split of his soul, something that made Sarah uncomfortable, knowing the man she was sitting with was only half of the man she loved. She soon began noticing the little differences. The lighter tone of him, a tenderness that hadn't been quite as obvious before, a softness to his voice. Yet he lacked something vital, a strength that he no longer seemed to possess, his aura of power was gone, he seemed weak. It wasn't long into their conversation that he confirmed her fears. He was growing weaker, simply watching her through a crystal had been draining him. In the back of his mind he knew what the problem was, and he knew it was only going to get worse, but he wasn't ready to face that now. He wasn't ready to face the consequences of this problem.

They'd spent a pleasant afternoon walking through the town, just enjoying spending time with each other. Jareth had missed this closeness over the past few months, and even though Sarah had not known what it was, she'd known something was missing from her life, something hugely important, almost a part of her. Having Jareth back now, she felt whole again.

The evening had been spent with Carnice and Hoggle, both with fully restored memories. The first half of the evening was taken up with Hoggle calling Jareth a rat and blaming him for getting them into this mess. He only quietened down after a calming word from Carnice. For the rest of the night they made plans for the future, but every suggestion was hit with a barrage of obstacles. By the time they went to bed, tired and frustrated, they were no closer to a decision that they had been at the beginning of the night.

Not that any of that mattered to Sarah at that precise moment, all that mattered was that she had Jareth, and they had their baby. She instinctively moved her hand over her belly, and couldn't stop herself from smiling, no matter what troubles they faced, she had her man and her child. She was happy.

Sarah lay in bed for a while longer, savouring Jareth's presence, but soon her natural restlessness took over and she got out of bed. She expected the usual protests that her waking Jareth usually brought, but they never came. She glanced back down at her future husband and found him still sleeping. Looking more closely at him, she noticed that dark bags had begun to form beneath his eyes. Skin that had always looked flawless now looked slightly pale and washed out. Sarah was worried, Fae should not look this way. She knew about the split, but even so, he hadn't looked like this when he'd first arrived. Resolving to ask him about it when he finally awoke, Sarah left Jareth in peace and went to fix herself some breakfast.

She cursed Hoggle when she reached the fridge to discover all the milk had gone. Quickly she grabbed her coat and bag and headed off to the shop to buy more milk, and possibly the supplies to make Jareth a cooked breakfast.

She'd barely walked two streets when she heard a violent crack fill the air. Her mind went strangely blank and her body went numb, before she became aware of a warm feeling running down her stomach. Looking down, curious as to the source of this slight heat, now running down her legs, her mind didn't take in the red liquid beginning to pool at her feet. Instead she heard screams, car horns, people running, she saw people stood staring at her, more running towards her. It was only as the first person reached her and asked her if she was okay that the pain shot through her. The hole went right the way through her chest, the pain a red hot poker as she struggled to breathe with a punctured lung and a bullet wound. She felt herself drop to the floor, her mind still not grasping that she had been shot. The people surrounding her caught her and lowered her to the floor, shouts of 911 surrounded her, but her mind withdrew from the commotion, withdrew from the pain, withdrew from her senses and focused all her energy on a simple word as she began to lose consciousness.

Jareth.


	22. Chapter 22

He heard her shout his name as though she were next to him, screaming in his ear. Indeed at first he thought that was the case, until he opened his eyes to find the room empty. Within seconds he was dressed and running down the stairs, feeling the now inevitable weakness that came with using magic. Though the call had been strong at first, now it was fading, something which terrified him more than the intensity of the shout in the first place. Luckily Sarah had not managed to get far before her attack and he found her quickly. She was lying on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood. Her eyes were shut. She was clearly unconscious, losing blood fast and he knew, as surely as he'd known anything in his entire life, that she was going to die.

The fear paralysed him momentarily, before his will took over. He would not lose her, not now, not so soon after he'd found her again. Throwing people out of his way he knelt down beside her, placing his hand over the bullet wound. He could feel her life force fading, Fae's were immortal, but they could be killed, loss of blood was just as fatal to a Fae as it was to a human. Barely thinking he focused all his power into a single point and then began to direct it through his hand and into Sarah. He could not heal her, not in his weakened mortal state, but he could hear the sirens of the ambulance, he prayed he had enough magic to keep her alive until the miracles of modern medicine could heal her. He'd done it once, he had to have faith that he could do it again. She couldn't die, not now, he couldn't lose her.

The journey to the hospital was unbearable, as soon as the paramedics had arrived he'd been forced to get back. Without physical contact he couldn't give her any more magic, from now on it was up the doctors to save her. The feeling of helplessness was destroying him, never had he felt such lack of control over a situation so essential to him. Sarah was his love, his Queen, the mother of his unborn child. If he lost her, lost _them_, he lost everything. Yet despite his anguish the tears refused to come, he would not submit to them, if he did, he was believing she could die, and he wouldn't do that, he simple wouldn't.

Once they reached the hospital he was given endless forms to fill in and though he used magic to complete them quickly, he still was not allowed to see Sarah while she was in surgery. The hours in the waiting room seemed to stretch on forever, time seemed to slow and finally stop. He paced the small room, moving on autopilot, his mind consumed with his fears for Sarah. He wanted to scream at the nurses, demand they let him see her, that they at least tell him what was going on. He was King! He shouldn't be kept out like this, he despised this world's rules, but knew that without magic, this was the only hope of saving his beloved.

He stopped pacing when he realised he was moving far too fast for a human. Knowing he couldn't create a scene that would potentially get him thrown out of the hospital, he forced himself to sit down, almost breaking the chair in his frustration. The seconds ticked by agonisingly slowly as he flicked his eyes between the door and the clock. Eventually he saw a familiar doctor heading towards him. He could barely stand, his fear was so great. At first the doctor's words made no sense, he seemed to be talking in a foreign language, or he was speaking either to quickly or too slowly for Jareth to understand, but eventually Jareth picked up that, although Sarah was not out of the woods yet, the surgery had been a success and she was stable.

It seemed to Jareth that he couldn't get to see her quick enough, but the second he laid his hand on her chest he knew she was going to be okay. A full recovery would normally take months, but he knew that with the infusion of his magic, coupled with Sarah focusing her own on healing, she would be fine within a day or two of leaving hospital.

It was only once he was sure that Sarah was going to be okay, and the fear had left him, that he realised just how exhausted he was. He'd poured all his energy into healing Sarah and it had taken more than just magic out of him, he felt physically drained. He couldn't ignore this anymore. Checking that Sarah was sleeping peacefully, and seeing her father walking up the corridor towards her room, Jareth decided it was time to discuss his weakness with his parents. Summoning the last of his magic he transported himself to the Underground. What had previously been a simple trick was now the extent of his power. He needed explanations.

He found his parents in the throne room with his other half. He was still not comfortable with the thought of his split soul, let alone being in the same room as him, yet at this time it was unavoidable. As for his Fae half, knowing he was only half a soul didn't bother him one bit. As he felt his mortal self enter the room, he remained lounging over his throne, merely raising an eyebrow at the entrance.

"So, you've felt it too then?" The darker Jareth asked, knowing the answer.

"We're getting weaker." Hearing them speak one after another showed a tiny difference in the pitch of their voices.

"So it would seem." It was Parthanon who spoke this time. "It is not entirely unexpected I must admit. It's a common phrase Aboveground that the whole is greater than the sum of its part, and I believe that applies here. You are not meant to be as you are now, and it is not a state that can last forever. The longer you're apart, the weaker you shall both get"

"Then we have to join again?" The lighter King asked.

"Give the boy a banana!" The darker Jareth retorted, with all the Goblin King's usual arrogance.

The mortal Jareth bristled at the comment, it was an odd feeling, disliking someone who was half of your own soul, but the feeling was there.

"Not immediately, but yes, eventually you will have to join again, and from the rate that you are weakening, I would say it was not too far into the future." Parthenon's words were tinged with sorrow. The work of neither Jareth was done, but it was all too clear that time was almost up for them.

"I would suggest that you rejoin as quickly as possible, only as a whole can you harness your full power."

"But Sarah…" The lighter Jareth cried.

"I know, you cannot leave her, not with this latest attack on her life. That is why I am suggesting you bring her here."

"And just exactly how is he supposed to do that?" The darker Fae retorted. "No one knows how the little bun she's got in that oven of hers survived the transition from here to Aboveground, but it certainly won't survive coming back here."

Though his words were crude, they expressed his lighter self's thoughts succinctly.

"That is a risk I'm afraid you're going to have to take." Parthanon held up his hands for silence as both of his son's began to interrupt him. Although it was the mortal half that was most closely linked to Sarah, the child she carried belonged to both of them, and neither was willing to risk its safety. "There is another reason to bring her to the Underground once more. As you are right now, you are weak, only reuniting both halves of your soul will grant you your full power. However your power is not the only power in the Underground. Never before has a High King ruled alone, your mortal self has magic because the High Ruler's magic is split as you are, but once you are reunited you cannot wield both the High King's and High Queen's magic. Only upon Sarah can be bestowed the High Queen's magic, and only when she is your wife. In order to have the full power of the Underground at your command, you must wed Sarah and have her by your side."

Parthenon's words were powerful, they even silenced the darker Jareth for a while, although he soon recovered and began argueing as to why they could not risk losing the baby. The lighter King was silent, allowing his other half to speak for him, for on this point they were completely agreed. However they got nothing more out of their father, all he would say was that it was a decision only they could make.

The mortal Jareth left not long after that, still determined that Sarah would not risk the life of their unborn child by travelling through the barriers that separated the worlds, whilst at the same time not knowing how long he could survive as only half a soul.


	23. Chapter 23

When Sarah awoke in hospital she was consumed by an all too familiar fear. She had too many bad memories from the last time she'd been in one, and after a second attack on her life, the last place she wanted to be was a hospital where she was helpless should her assailant try again. She didn't have long to dwell on her thoughts, however, within seconds of waking she realised she wasn't alone in the room, her father was sat in the chair next to the bed, asleep, or unconscious.

Her stirring disturbed his sleep and it wasn't long until he was awake as well. Seeing his daughter conscious caused him to smile, but Sarah found herself unable to reciprocate it. It was clear her father was sober, but barely, and she knew it wouldn't last long.

"Hi Dad."

"Hi Sarah. It's good to see you awake again."

"Thanks."

There was a strained silence after their brief exchange. They'd grown apart years ago and neither knew how to bridge the distance that was between them now.

"So, where's Toby?"

It took her father a couple of seconds to answer. Sarah could almost see him searching his memory for knowledge of where his only son was, and she could feel the rage rising in herself.

"Mrs Flattery has him."

"You left him with Mrs Flattery?"

Sarah was outraged now.

"Mrs Flattery is a violent woman who has been arrested for disturbing the peace I don't know how many times!"

Her father's face fell with her harsh words as he tried to defend himself.

"But she's our neighbour…"

"Neighbour she may be but I wouldn't let her look after Merlin let alone Toby!"

The look on her father's face was breaking her heart. To see her once strong, kind and loving father reduced to a weak old man was more than she could bear, but there were things he needed to hear. This had gone on too long, and though she couldn't stop the tears falling from her eyes, she managed to find the strength to continue.

"Dad what are you doing? How can you do this to Toby? He's your son, he loves you, he needs you."

"I just didn't want him to see you in hospital again…"

"I know dad, I know you just want to protect him, but you've got to start thinking further. You should have called Amber, or Mark, or any of his old baby sitters, instead of just dumping him next door."

Her father began to cry too at this point.

"Sarah, I'm sorry, I was just so worried." He could barely look her in the eye as he finished speaking. "I don't know what I'd do without you…"

Although her heart was filled with pain at the sight of him, at the same time something inside her snapped. It was time to end this, once and for all.

"I don't care." The anger in her voice caused her father's head to shoot up and look her in the eyes once again.

"I honestly don't care about you. All I'm worried about is Toby. What would happen to him if I were gone Dad? Have you even thought about that? Do you even think about him anymore? Dad he's your son and look how you're treating him! Every time I go to your house I find you either extremely drunk or unconscious and Karen's nowhere to be seen. He's just a kid, he needs his parents, not an alcoholic father and mother who's too concerned with shopping to bother about her only child. You need to sort yourself out Dad, you need to be a father again."

"But how?" The voice that came from her father's face was weak and full of self-pity, and though there was still tears in her eyes, she knew her father needed to hear what she had to say.

"Divorce Karen. And you know I do not say this because of my personal feelings towards her, I say this because of you, because of Toby. You and Karen aren't a couple anymore, you barely spend five minutes together and when you do it's only to have a bitter row. She's the one who drove you to drink and you know it. You're on the verge of losing your job and then what will you do? How will you take care of Toby without a job?"

She gave him a few moments to think about what she was saying before she continued.

"If you divorce then you've both got a chance. You've got a chance to be happy again, to get sober, to be the father to Toby that you were to me. Karen's got a chance to get her own life, you know she won't fight for Toby, she'll give you full custody as long as you give her full visitation rights."

Sarah laid her hand over her father's.

"Dad you have to sort yourself out, for Toby, for me, for _you_, please do this."

Silence followed her words, her father dropped his head and for a long time Sarah watched his shoulders shake as he cried without a sound. Yet she wouldn't comfort him, that's not what he needed. There was a lot of pain inside him, just like there was in her, he needed this time to come to terms with what she'd said.

Once his tears had dried they talked for hours. Her father spoke of all that had gone wrong with his marriage, he admitted his faults, he knew how bad a father he was being to Toby. They discussed what he was going to do for a long time, he knew she was right, his only choice was to divorce Karen, but he wasn't as sure as Sarah was about how easy it would be. Karen did love Toby, he didn't believe she would allow him to keep custody. Nevertheless he intended to try.

All too soon the doctor came to check on Sarah, and her father left, promising to bring Toby back the next day. Finally Sarah was left alone with the doctor and could ask the question that had been haunting her ever since she woke up.

"Doctor, please, my baby, is it okay?"

She was terrified of finding out the answer, her fear that she had lost it in the attack made it near impossible to get the question out, but she couldn't go on without knowing.

"The baby is fine Sarah. The human body's a miraculous thing, and your baby is well protected. Don't worry, all our tests say that it wasn't injured in the slightest."

Sarah was almost overwhelmed with relief. Knowing now that the baby was Jareth's, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to cope had she lost it.

Not long after that Jareth entered the room, explaining he had been informing his parents of her latest attack. He decided that now wasn't the best time to tell her what he had found out, in her weakened state he didn't want to worry her, it wasn't good for the baby. They talked for a while until Sarah fell asleep, it always amazed her how tiring healing was. Jareth dozed the night away in the chair by her bed, thoughts of what he had to do giving him fitful dreams all night long.


	24. Chapter 24

Sarah was released the next morning after spending an hour argueing with the doctors, refusing to let them look at her in case they realised just how much she'd healed overnight, and eventually simply dressing and walking out of the hospital. She spent the first half of the day being fussed over by her friends and future husband. At first it was rather amusing, but it soon became tiresome. Just as she was on the verge of telling them all to leave her alone she heard a knock on the door. Amber went to answer it and almost immediately Toby came bounding onto her bed grabbing her in a bear hug. Sarah hugged him back, wincing in pain as she did so, then she saw her father follow Amber through the door. She couldn't have been more surprised by the visit. Not once since she had moved here had her father come to see her. It seemed that what she'd said to him yesterday had managed to get through. He was sober, and although he was pale and looked vaguely sick, he appeared healthier than he had in a long time. Sarah felt tears form in her eyes with happiness. For the first time she had hope that her family would be okay. She could go home.

The afternoon passed swiftly and pleasantly. Toby was happy, her father was sober, and she had Jareth. At times the pain of her attacks still touched her, there was a darkness in her that she wasn't sure would ever be erased, but it no longer consumed her. It was in the past, she had friends, she had her family back, and most importantly she had Jareth. Just having him back in her life was helping more than she could ever tell him. She loved him, totally and completely. But her happiness was overshadowed by the events of the Underground. Soon the other half of Jareth's soul would be going to war with Gerard. Although her mind couldn't entirely grasp the concept of Jareth being two entities, she was terrified that something might happen to him in the war. She couldn't stand it if she lost him. She knew what she had to do. She didn't want to leave Toby and her father, not again, but she had no choice. The Underground needed its King, all of him.

The group enjoyed a pleasant dinner together during which Sarah's father explained that Karen had agreed to divorce him, and after a long argument agreed to let him have full custody of Toby, providing she could visit any time she wanted. After the meal, Toby and his father went home, promising to visit the next day. Amber and Mark left Sarah and Jareth alone, knowing instinctively that they needed to talk. There was a slight tension in the air, it had been growing slowly as the day progressed, now it was clear that change was imminent, all they had to do, was decide what that change would be.

For a long while Sarah and Jareth sat in silence, each knowing what the other would say, but neither knowing how to start the conversation. The tension grew in the room as they both retreated further into their minds, trying to figure out what to say. Eventually Sarah was startled out of her reverie by Jareth laughing softly. She glanced up, confused, to find him looking into her eyes.

"Why is it that we can talk for hours about nothing but when it comes to something important, we can't find anything to say?"

Sarah smiled in response, amused in turn by the absurdity of it. But the smile soon fell from her face as she plucked up the courage to say what she had to.

"It's time to go home."

"Sarah you cannot go to the Underground." Jareth stated simply.

"Why not?"

"The barriers between this world and the Underground are too strong. I don't understand how our baby survived going through them once, we cannot risk losing it by travelling through them again."

"Jareth, our baby is not in any danger. It survived before because of my magic, _our_ magic. I'm one of the most powerful forms of Fae, and you're the High King of the Underground. I got shot yesterday and already I'm almost fully healed. We have more than enough magic to protect this baby."

"It's not about how much power we've got." Jareth said, becoming worried about what Sarah was intending on doing. "The barriers between worlds are unpredictable."

"It doesn't matter. My magic was able to break down the spells you'd put on me to make me forget my time in the Underground, strong enough for me to destroy the bonds you'd put around my power. I can protect our baby."

"You cannot guarantee that Sarah." Both of them were angry now, their heated words fuelled by their worry. "Would you really risk losing our baby?"

"Jareth our baby is not in danger!" Sarah's face suddenly softened after her outburst, and she dropped her eyes to look at the floor as she continued. "But yes, I would risk it."

She heard his sharp intake of breath, but wouldn't look at him.

"Because I understand something which you do not credit me with. It's not about the baby, or me, it's not even about you." This time she did raise her head to look at her beloved.

"It's about the Kingdom. That's why you sent me up here but wouldn't come with me. It's why you split your soul, because as much as you wanted to protect me, you wouldn't abandon your Kingdom. It's the Underground that counts. You chose it over me, and I will choose it over our baby."

It hurt her more than words could describe to say these words, tears filled her eyes and threatened to fall, only her pure determination to continue kept them at bay, as she knew Jareth understood her.

"I love this child, my heart is screaming at me to protect it. But we cannot abandon the Underground's subjects. You're growing weaker by the day, your soul needs to be reunited that is the only way you can survive. The Underground needs you, its people need you."

"And I need my Queen by my side." Jareth finished for her.

Everything she was saying was true. How could he let thousands upon thousands of Underground creatures die for one child, it was unthinkable, no matter how painful the thought of losing his unborn baby was. He needed Sarah by his side, only with her beside him could they harness the full power of the Underground to protect it. Yet still he could not bear the thought of losing the baby.

Sarah could almost hear his thoughts going through his head, so strong were his emotions.

"Jareth, even if I stay here, I cannot raise the child Aboveground. It is the heir to the throne of the Underground. We are both Fae now, a child born of Fae cannot truly live in a world as empty of magic as this one. It needs to live in the Underground, and if we do not go back now, there will be no Underground for it to live in. If we do not go there and fight, this child will die regardless."

This was all it took finally. Sarah's words cemented his decision. He would return to the Underground, and Sarah would be by his side. He just prayed his child would be too.

**A/N Thank you once again for all your feedback, and for sticking with this story despite the huge gaps due to my laptop having a hissy fit! I'm back to my usual habit of uploading every few days so I'll hope you'll continue with the story, and keep letting me know what you think of it, it really helps!!!**


	25. Chapter 25

The next morning Sarah and Jareth were awakened by the ringing of Sarah's telephone. They had decided on one more night Aboveground, one night where it was just the two of them, no war, no Gerard, just them. It was a delaying tactic, neither of them wanted to face the potentially awful consequences of their returning to the Underground, so they'd given themselves this one last night.

The previous night Jareth had sent Carnice and Hoggle to the Underground, so it was left to Sarah to answer the phone. Groggily she picked up the received, but in seconds she was wide awake and sitting up in bed.

"Sarah, it's Dad. Do you have any idea where Toby is, he's not in his room, I've searched the house, he's not here?"

"What do you mean he's not there?" The panic was rising in Sarah, making it hard for her to think straight.

"He's gone, his room's a mess, it looks like he's been taken."

In her terror Sarah dropped the phone, her brain refusing to process what her father had just said. Jareth picked the phone back up and told his future father in law they would be right over, before carefully coaxing Sarah out of bed. Within minutes they were both dressed and on their way to Sarah's old home. Not wanting to scare her father by magically appearing within seconds of his call they took a taxi. The ride was an agony for Sarah, fear for her brother mounted with every minute they sat in the car, not knowing what was happening. When they eventually reached her father's house they found a police car in the drive and two police officers in the house. Without stopping to speak to anyone Sarah immediately ran up to Toby's room. 'A mess' had been an understatement. Toys and clothes were strewn about the room. His mirror and window were both smashed and his bedside lamp lay broken on the floor. Greeted with the sight of such carnage in her little brother's bedroom Sarah broke down into tears.

Jareth followed her into the room, seething with anger that someone would do this to Toby. He scanned the room, searching for some indication as to what had happened and something on the bed caught his eye. As he moved closer, the rage in him mounted. Laying on the bed sheet was a seal, a ring which held the mark of a king, traditionally used to mark the wax on a letter to ensure it was not opened before it reached its intended recipient. Jareth recognized the seal instantly, many a time in his childhood that ring had left an imprint in his flesh from a violent blow. Jareth knew now that Toby had indeed been taken, and he knew he'd been taken by Gerard, or at least someone who worked for him.

Jareth pocketed the seal and went to hold Sarah, whispering soothing words he helped her slowly down the stairs. When they reached the living room they saw that the police were interviewing Sarah's father.

"The window and mirror are both smashed and yet you say you heard nothing." The male police officer was asking.

Her father glanced quickly at Sarah before returning his eyes to the police officer, but Jareth saw his face turn red with shame as he replied.

"I, I'm a deep sleeper."

"You were drinking…"

Sarah's voice was almost a whisper, and yet all those in the room heard it. Her father wouldn't look at her, but she was staring directly at him, hatred burning in her eyes.

"You told me you'd quit but you hadn't. And now he's gone. Toby's gone…"

Once again the tears took over and Jareth led her out of the house before she could say any more angry words to her father. It was true that he probably needed to hear them, but now was not the time. Regardless of which, even if he had been sober, he couldn't have done anything. Whoever Gerard had gotten to kidnap Toby, they were powerful, they had to be to cross the barriers between the worlds, if Sarah's father had tried to interfere, he would only have ended up getting hurt.

By the time they got back to the house Sarah was frantic. She refused to sit down, repeating over and over that she needed to go look for him, pacing back and forth across the living room. Jareth had said her name multiple times before Sarah finally realised he was speaking.

"Sarah, we have to go back." He said it quietly, his eyes pleading with her to agree.

"Go back? Now? How could you even suggest that?"

"I know it's hard, but we have to leave, right away."

"But Jareth he's my brother and he's missing."

"I know Sarah, that's why we've got to go to the Underground."

"I don't understand."

Jareth sighed slightly, wishing he didn't have to tell her this, but he knew that if he didn't, he'd never convince her to go with him to the Underground.

"Sarah, Gerard has Toby."

He barely managed to catch her as she fell. She knew what Gerard could do, what he'd done to Jareth and Keira, the thought of him putting Toby through any of that was too much, she dissolved into tears, barely able to breath so powerful was her grief. It broke Jareth's heart to see her like this, but he needed her strong, he needed his Queen.

"Sarah listen, Gerard won't harm him, it's not Toby that he wants."

This caused Sarah's tears to abate slightly as she turned her head to face him.

"It's you. He's taken Toby to make sure that you go to the Underground, to make sure that you join this war. He still wants your life Sarah, he can't take it up here, so he's taken the one thing that you would follow into this war, Toby."

Sarah could see the logic in his words, but it didn't ease her fear. That monster had her little brother. Even if he didn't harm him, Toby would be terrified at being kidnapped. His room was a mess, there'd been a struggle, which meant Toby had fought, he wouldn't have fought if he wasn't scared. The thought of her brother's fear increased the pain in her even more, but at the same time it strengthened her resolve. She would go to the Underground, together she and Jareth would win this war, and they would get Toby back.

Then Gerard would die.


	26. Chapter 26

Gerard was getting his latest report from the head of his spies in the Underground, frustrated at the lack of information he was receiving. It seems Jareth knew that not all of his subjects were trustworthy, he'd closed ranks, letting only those closest to him have any information regarding the upcoming war. Once again Gerard was getting second or third hand rumours and by the time the meeting ended he was furious, and his mood was not destined to get any better. No sooner had he dismissed his head spy than his mistress appeared, and she wasn't alone.

When Gerard saw the small human boy thrown unceremoniously on the floor in front of him, his spirits soared for an instant. His first thought was that his mistress had finally succumbed and brought him a fresh human child as a slave. However fear flooded his soul the second the child raised his head. This was no mere mortal, this with Sarah's brother, the infamous Toby. Jareth's magic surrounded this boy, it had infected him at such a young age that he retained a part of the Underground within him, he had an aura of magic that was unmistakable.

Gerard found himself taking steps backward, in an attempt to distance himself from the child. He was not stupid, he knew this move would have dire consequences. Nothing he had done so far would affect Sarah like the kidnapping of her younger brother. She would not take this lightly. He looked up from the child to his mistress, for once not seeing the madness in her eyes, but a strange clarity. This he could not understand, her having done this as part of a logical thought process.

"Why do this?"

"Jareth spends barely any time in the Underground, and with him guarding that bitch nothing I can do can kill her. The only chance I have at getting close to her is if she's back down here. I want her dead and what better way to kill someone than in a war? You think she's going to let dear old Toby get taken without a fight? She'll come back and when she does, this war will begin, and she will die."

It took Gerard a few moments to process her words, the fear of Sarah's retaliation still gripping him. Sarah was no weak mortal any more, she was powerful, certainly more powerful than him, maybe even more powerful than his mistress, and anger would only fuel her power. Nevertheless, with her back in the Underground there was more of a chance for her to get injured. However it was his mistress's last statement that gave him pause for thought.

"I thought you didn't want a war."

"Fool!" Her temper was swift. "I want my Kingdom! This has gone on long enough, I will not wait any longer to rule. I _will_ take his throne, I _will_ become High Queen, I _will _rule. Even if I have to wipe out the entire Royal family to do so!"

The madness was back and plain to see. Her determination to rule overrode all logical thought and left no room for fears of consequences. Yet in a way the madness was infectious. He too wanted Sarah dead, her humiliation of him and theft of his slaves and subjects would never be forgiven. He grinned back at his mistress, perfectly content to do whatever she wanted. For now at least.


	27. Chapter 27

As Sarah and Jareth materialized in the throne room of the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth, Sarah's hands flew to her belly. She could feel her baby, feel it's heartbeat, it was alive, but that meant nothing, only the coming weeks would indicate if the journey through barriers had been fatal to the child. For all her confidence whilst argueing with Jareth, she didn't truly know whether her magic had protected their baby, she could only pray.

Her thoughts were soon distracted by the commotion that greeted their return. Jareth's parents welcomed them back warmly. Sir Didymus greeted them in a dignified, yet obviously happy manner. Ludo simply bounded over and hugged them both simultaneously, and Carnice and Hoggle stood back to allow the others access to the royal pair. And then of course there was Jareth's other half. The Goblin King essence in true form, regal yet clearly relieved to have the other half of his soul return. Between the two there was an awkward silence. Sarah, not daring to greet the darker half for fear of sparking some irrational jealously in the Jareth she had spent time with Aboveground, stood back as the two Kings walked towards each other.

Neither spoke as they stood facing each other, all others in the room stood as silent witnesses. This time there was no ritual, splitting a soul is notoriously hard, but reuniting a soul is incredibly simple. The natural order of things demand the two halves be one, all it took was a single thought passing through each of the two beings, and they instantly merged. As they did a flash of power spread throughout the Goblin Kingdom. Now the King was whole again, so was the magic of the land, and the darkness that had tainted it in the mortal Jareth's absence was gone. Once again, all those resident within the Labyrinth noticed the shift in power, they recognized the return of something that was part of the essence of the land, though none knew what it was. Although confusion filled those subjects who did not know about the split, which was most, they felt a peace again as normality was restored.

As for Jareth himself, with the reuniting of his soul he'd felt a power course through him, almost too much to contain. He knew now that his father was right, this was too much power for one person. For all the strength he felt it give him, he could feel it's potential to destroy him too. He needed to share it. Turning to Sarah he embraced her with a new passion, forgetting for a moment all the others in the room, but not for long. All too soon he pulled away from Sarah and turned to face his parents.

"So mother, just how soon do you think you can plan a Royal wedding?"

The mischievous grin had returned to the Goblin King's face, but it had lost all trace of cruelty. Saliene couldn't help but smile now that her son was whole again, but as much as the wedding was to be a happy and grand affair, it was also an extremely important occasion. Certain traditions had to be observed in order for it to be true and binding, and such things take time.

"Under normal circumstances it would take at least a month, but with things how they are, I think we can get it done in just over a week."

For the first time, the full impact of what was to happen hit Sarah. Her actions had put into motion events that had caused Jareth to be named High King of the Underground, and he was about to go to war. Only through their marriage would they be able to harness the full power of the Underground, and in doing so she would be made High Queen. The thought didn't seem real, little Sarah, an outcast Aboveground, of no importance to anyone but her little brother, was about to become High Queen. The enormity of the situation was a little too much for her and she suddenly became dizzy. Jareth managed to catch her as her knees buckled, but she didn't pass out. She could see the worry in her future husband's eyes, but she could feel the baby, it was still strong. She was the one that was weak. How did she expect to pull this off? She'd barely learnt how to use her own powers and now this? She wasn't sure she was ready for this, but as she looked into Jareth's eyes, and then around the room at her friends, at her new family, she saw the fear in their eyes. They were depending on her to be strong, if she failed, they could lose everything, their homes, their families, their very lives. She would not let them down.

Finding a new resolve she regained her footing, gently removing Jareth's arms so she was standing on her own. Then, looking into Saliene's eyes, she said;

"Tell me what I have to do."

**A/N Thank you as always for reading, and especially those who left reviews!! I'm trying to update regularly but I've been busy lately which is why when I do get chance to upload, I upload a couple of chapters at once. So I hope you're still enjoying it and as always, all feedback is greatly appreciated.**


	28. Chapter 28

Gerard paced his room incessantly, every few minutes throwing glances at the scared boy who sat chained to the wall on the far side of the room. For the first time Gerard feared for his safety. The kidnapping of Sarah's brother would only serve to fuel the hatred in her and in Jareth. Gerard had now completely lost faith in his mistress's plans and as usual she had disappeared again. It seemed they were never in the same room together for more than five minutes. She wasn't his mistress anymore, hadn't been for a long time. He was beginning to wonder if what they'd had was simply a part of her plan to gain a crown. They never spoke of anything that wasn't related to the Underground. He barely saw her, and the little time she was there her madness only increased his fear. He was no longer certain that he could win this war and he knew that even if he did, he would not rule the Underground, she would. All he could do was pray she would allow him to keep his own lands and he'd be more than happy to leave her completely alone.

Once again he glanced at Toby. The boy was crying, clearly terrified, though he had not been mistreated, Gerard was too afraid of the consequences to mistreat him. The shackles were loose so as not to hurt him. There was a plate of food and a glass of water in front of him, although it was as yet untouched by the boy. He had all he needed and so Gerard left him alone.

It was as Gerard was wondering what his mistress would do to the boy once the war had ended that she returned. He saw a delight in her face that could have a hundred meanings, all of them bad.

"So it seems the little bitch took our bait, she's back, which means Jareth won't be going anywhere soon. And on top of that they plan to wed. Fools. Thinking they can harness the power of the Underground. It's time Gerard. Gather your armies, prepare for war."

**A/N I know, it's a rather short chapter, so here, have another one...**


	29. Chapter 29

The next couple of days were a whirlwind of activity. Sarah spent most of her time with her soon to be mother-in-law, working on the wedding plans. Between dress fitting, choosing flowers, helping Saliene with invite lists and table arrangements, reuniting with Kara and the inevitable gossip session that followed, Sarah had barely any time to herself. That coupled with Jareth's meetings of war strategy, his own wedding plans which included suit fittings, the inevitable arguments over which nobles he had to invite to participate in the formalities and those he actually wanted to invite, along with supervising the menu, all of which Jareth was loathe to do and ended up making them take longer than necessary with his objections, the only time Sarah and Jareth spent together was at night. This inevitably consisted of a good night kiss before they both fell into bed exhausted and were asleep within minutes. This was not at all how Sarah had imagined she'd be planning her wedding, but then again, she had never imagined herself becoming High Queen of a magical realm, so why should it go as expected.

Nevertheless, Sarah was glad she was being kept so busy, if she hadn't, she would have spent the entire time worrying about her baby. Although she could still feel it, its heartbeat felt weaker. She told herself it was simply that she was so pre-occupied with the wedding plans and the impending war, but she wasn't so sure, and in those rare moments of peace when she let herself dwell on it, the fear became so strong it overcame her and she'd find herself huddled in a ball, crying. Saliene was always on hand with a new task that demanded her attention, so Sarah was thankfully never left alone to cry for long, but the fear never truly left her.

The wedding plans progressed swiftly, Sir Didymus, Ludo and Hoggle were all given honourary roles in the wedding, much to Jareth's vexation. It was also decided that any subject who wished to attend the wedding could, and so the Goblins set about immediately clearing a huge piece of land within the Labyrinth and building the various structures for the ceremony itself. However it very quickly became clear that Saliene's original estimate of just over a week was rather optimistic and it was more likely to be two before the wedding was fully prepared. Guest rooms had to be cleaned and allocated, dependant upon rank, and in some cases, the favouritism of the Royal family. New rooms had to be built as the replies were coming back thick and fast and the number of attendees were rising daily. Many of these new rooms were built by magic as Jareth didn't want to pull any more Goblins than were necessary away from the preparations for war, the forging of weapons and armour for the vast army.

And so it was that the day before the wedding arrived all too quickly. The final touches were being made to the wedding outfits, those participating in the wedding were running through their roles in their head. Guests had begun arriving a couple of days earlier and were now coming in swarms so all the servants in the castle were sent to help show them to their rooms, move their luggage, prepare food for them and deal with any silly request nobles felt the need to make simply to make their presence known. It was whilst Sarah and Jareth were trying to explain to a Fae noble why they were further from the centre of the castle than an Elemental noble that Sarah suddenly felt a tremor of fear shoot through her. A glance and Jareth confirmed he had felt it too. The fear was not their own, it had been sent to them from one of their subjects. Almost immediately they heard the telepathic message sent to them by one of the sentinels watching the outer wall of the Labyrinth.

Gerard's army was on the horizon and heading this way.

For a few seconds there was silence between Sarah and Jareth. They had both known it was inevitable that Gerard would find out about the wedding. Knowing it would render them able to wield the full magic of the Underground, he would want to stop it. They had expected such an attack but as the days had passed, and the date of the wedding had drawn nearer, they had assumed he had not yet amassed his full army. The sentinels clear message showed this was not so, the war for the Underground had begun.

Within seconds Jareth was in motion with Sarah following him close behind. Abandoning the Fae nobles to confusion they ran through the castle to their room, Jareth issuing orders telepathically as he went. Instantly the entire army was alerted to the attack. Most of the Goblin, Elemental and Animalanis armies had already made their way to the Labyrinth, in anticipation of such an attack, however both Sarah and Jareth were painfully aware that none of the Faeries were present. The marriage of a Faerie demanded certain protocol, and the Faerie clans were off preparing for this, as such there was no way they could reach them. This battle would have to be fought without them, and though their numbers were small, their magic was not. Their loss was a huge blow to a battle not yet even begun. Jareth considered appealing once again to the Fae nobles but they had made their position blatantly clear: as long as Trea would not fight, neither would they.

Once Jareth reached his room he changed, using magic, into his full suit of armour before reaching for the sword that was suspended on the wall. He took this down slowly, savouring the weight of it, thinking on its mighty history. Most recently it had been used by his father in the war to win the Labyrinth off its previous cruel ruler. When it had been ceremoniously displayed on the wall it was in a hope that it should never again be used in the protection of this Kingdom. That he was now carrying it, preparing to go to war reminded Jareth of how his actions had led to the endangerment of his lands, his subjects and those he loved. As he attached the sword to his armour he swore he would not fail in protecting his Kingdom, the consequences of such a failure were too dire. He would fight, he would win. He would be High King.

As Sarah looked at her future husband in all his fine royal armour, she felt the fear of losing him rise in her. They had come so far, overcome so many obstacles just to reach this point, and yet she knew it could all be for naught. This was a war, in all wars there were casualties, it was inevitable, what if Jareth should be one of them? The tears rose to her eyes and a few spilled down her cheeks, but when Jareth turned to face her, when she saw the look of determination in his eyes, her crying ceased. Before her stood the High King of the Underground. His full body armour looked to be made of paper thin silver, weak, yet she knew it could withstand a hundred blows of a sword. The armour itself was elegant, inlaid with gold Fae script, highly polished and seemed to glow slightly, no doubt a sign of the magic that helped strengthen it. He wore an ivory coloured tunic over the top of it, tied at the waist with the belt that held his sword. There was a cloak around his shoulders, made of the same ivory material, the edges were thick with gold thread creating elegant patterns and words of protection for the wearer. One look at him marked him as royalty, and yet a glance into his eyes said that this armour was not for show. He would be in the battle, he would lead his troops towards the enemy, he would defend his Kingdom with his own flesh and blood, and he would win.

No longer did Sarah fear for his safety, his determination shone through and she began to feel his certainty that he would defeat Gerard. Their parting held no words, a simple tight embrace, a chaste kiss, and then he was gone, transported to the field below the castle where his troops were assembling. All building had been abandoned, the wedding preparations had ceased, all those that could fight had donned their armour and made their way to the castle. As Sarah watched, more and more soldiers entered the courtyard, filled the Goblin city and ultimately poured out into the Labyrinth itself. Goblins, Elementals, Animalanis, some in human form, others, those who became fiercer creatures, had transformed into their animal form. Her hope began to swell by the sheer numbers of the army before her. Eventually it was fully assembled and without a word Jareth transported his entire army with him to beyond the gates of the Goblin city.

From now on all Sarah could do was wait, and pray. Her confidence of moments earlier was melting, leaving her once again with the fear that she would lose Jareth. Seconds later she heard a timid knock on the door and upon opening it she found Kara there. Having her friend with her Sarah felt her hope return. Realising to be alone would be the worst thing, she silently transported both herself and Kara to the nursery, finding Carnice there with the three children currently residing in the castle. As the three friends embraced they felt a union. As women they would not fight, but this war was for their homes. Their friends were out there about to risk their lives, they needed each other's company to get through this wait. Very few words were spoken between the adults, they immersed themselves completely in caring for the children. As Sarah held the youngest, a 6 month old baby girl, she couldn't help but think of her child. Not only was she risking losing her future husband, but her baby could already by dying. The hours ahead were going to be long indeed.


	30. Chapter 30

Jareth appeared outside the gates of the Labyrinth, his great army amassed behind him. The hill which had stood beyond the gates for time immemorial, had been flattened as soon as it became clear the war was unavoidable. Removing the hill meant removing any obstacle to view which Gerard could use to sneak up and launch a surprise attack. Now Jareth could see miles into the distance, see the advance of Gerard's army clearly. The numbers startled Jareth for a moment, he had expected to face a large army, but the force that was heading swiftly towards him far exceeded his most terrible prediction. It was clear they had all underestimated the sheer number of subjects Gerard had in his Kingdom, despite Sarah's offering a home in the Underground to all who wished it. To make it worse those who had moved to the Goblin Kingdom were refusing to fight lest the war should be lost and they had to return to Gerard's rule as enemies. Most had fled the Underground to neighbouring kingdoms.

Yet Jareth refused to feel fear or intimidation, despite the mounting odds, and neither would he let his troops feel them. Turning to face them he began to speak, his magic amplifying his voice to all present, his voice full of fierce conviction.

"Today we face a mighty battle. Never before has such a threat been posed to the Underground. The army that sweeps towards us is vast and fierce, but the army I see before me shall prevail! Our enemies fight for a King they do not believe in, for a cause they do not trust. They fight through fear, but what do we fight for? Why are we all standing her, swords in hand, ready to lay down our lives if that should be our fate? Behind you stand the walls to the Labyrinth, beyond the Labyrinth is the Underground. This is why we fight! Never before has such an army been assembled, Goblins, Animalanis, Elementals! We stand together and we shall fight together! We fight for our land! We fight for our homes! We fight to protect those that we love and we shall win!! Never doubt this, for though they may have the superior numbers they fight for nothing and so lack the fire that burns inside all of you. We shall win this battle, because to lose means the destructions of everything we call home, the death of those we love, this cannot happen! So stand with me now, raise you swords and as you face this enemy remember why you are here. Remember what you are protecting. Think of your families and remember that WE ARE THE SUBJECTS OF THE UNDERGROUND AND WE SHALL BE VICTORIOUS!!!!"

The cheers that arose drowned out every other noise and filled every man assembled with a sense of unity. They believed what their King was saying. They would win, they would survive and they would do it together. As Jareth turned around to face the enemy in it's final charge towards them he let his mind fill with images of Sarah, his heart filled with love for her, before hardening it against the horrors that lay before him. He was determined to succeed, determined that he would protect his lands, protect his family, protect Sarah.

As the hours rolled by, Sarah and her friends began playing games with the children, doing crafts, giving the eldest some history lessons on the Labyrinth, anything to keep their minds off what was happening outside the gates to the Labyrinth. Yet again and again Sarah would find her thoughts wandering back to Jareth, desperate to know what was happening, how the battle was going, if he was okay. She told herself over and over that she would know if something happened to him, but it did not lessen her worry. Numerous times her mind would wander, numerous times Carnice would call her back, but all too soon her thoughts were once again focused on the man she loved.

She was not the only one who was distracted though. Carnice had lived her entire life in the Underground, and she'd lived at the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth ever since Jareth's father had taken it from its former ruler. It was her home and Jareth was like a little brother to her, she too feared for his safety, and the fate of the Kingdom. As for Kara, her life had been all too filled with sorrow, and now, far too soon after she'd discovered happiness, she faced the possibility it might be wiped out again, that all she'd be left with was pain and suffering and perhaps even death.

All three women were united in their worry, and all three wished there was some way they could help the men on the battlefield, or at least know what was going on. It was at this point that Sarah realised her time Aboveground had led her to forget about the most basic of powers. Without a moments hesitation she produced her old familiar rose sphere and gazing into it, she witnessed the horrors that her husband was facing.

As Jareth watched the army come towards him, he felt the anger in him growing, the closer the army got, the more hate he felt towards them. That mortal part of himself that would show his enemies mercy was pushed to the back of his mind, and the Goblin King took over. The Goblin King was the part of him that was fierce, the part of him that could fight, the part that had the greatest control of magic. It was the part of him that could happily kill every creature in front of him in order to protect those he loved. Yet this was not just the normal fury of battle he felt, and with each step the opposing army took towards him, his conscious mind began to be more aware of what was causing the inflated anger that stemmed from his unconscious thoughts. He stood at the head of his army, proud, fiercely determined to lead his army to victory. Yet as he looked at the opposing army, he saw an organized rabble. The most experienced soldiers clearly marched at the front, but who was leading them? The answer hit Jareth in a storm of rage. Nobody. There was no one leading that army, no one at their head. That Gerard had started this war angered Jareth, that he did not lead his army into it filled him with a fury so ferocious he felt fear from the Goblins stood behind him.

"So Gerard would hide behind his army, making them do his killing for him, while he sits safely watching the fight?" Jareth whispered, to himself more than anyone listening. "Then we shall kill every one who stands in front of us until I reach that bastard and put an end to his life!"

The determination in his voice gave increased hope to those who could hear him, which in the most consisted of Goblins, including of course, Hoggle and the ever loyal Sir Didymus and Ludo. Though the Goblins were usually mischievous yet kind creatures, they could be extremely brutal, and when clad in their full armour, facing a threat to everything they cared about, they could intimidate the bravest of enemies. Flanking the Goblins on either side were hoards of Gnomes. Normally, any time Gnomes and Goblins were in close range of each other a war would ensue between them, but not this time, now, they were united against a common enemy. Nothing would cause a rift between them, they recognized their similarities and in doing so forged an allegiance as strong as blood kinship.

Standing directly behind the troop of Goblins were gathered the Animalanis in their various human and animal forms. For creatures like Jareth who changed into a calm animal, their human form was the most useful, clad in armour and wielding weapons of various shapes and sizes. But for the Animalanis who could transform into fierce creatures, wolves, lions and the such, they provided an alternate form of attack, that of teeth and claws, biting and ripping. Their swiftness and agility meant they could attack and kill an enemy without much danger of being injured themselves. They were a dangerous race indeed.

Flanking the Animalanis, massing behind the Gnomes were the other Elementals. Some may say they were the weakest fighters, but they all had their strengths, none would be left watching at the sidelines. This was everyone's fight, and they would do all they could to defeat the enemy.


	31. Chapter 31

Sarah didn't need the rose sphere to tell her the war had started, the roar from the clash of weapons reached them from clear across the Labyrinth. She watched as the man she loved cut down the first soldier, then another, then another. His sword work was perfect, his skill and aggression clearly terrifying the opposition, causing them to lose nerve and make fatal mistakes, falling to his attacks whilst barely presenting a threat. Yet as the war continued, Sarah's fear lessened not one bit. Jareth never failed to parry a blow, nor hit his mark when striking, but the army before him stretched way on into the distance, more and more fighting their way to where he stood, desperate to be the one to kill the Goblin King. He was not alone in the fight though. His Goblins soon surrounded him, not completely blocking him off from his would be opponents, but certainly making it much harder for them to reach him, and effectively preventing more than two or three attacking Jareth at any one time. Ludo, though usually a kind, gentle creature, was nevertheless, a huge beast. When angered, like he was by the threat to his friend Sarah, he could command all his strength to smash his enemies to the ground, crush their heads, use his brute strength to destroy all those that faced him. Sir Didymus fought with a passion and bravery none could outmatch, he was highly skilled with a sword and though he was small, he made up for it with enthusiasm, losing no ground to those he faced. As for Hoggle, none who knew him would have recognized him in this fight, clad in full armour, sword in hand, nothing was left of the coward Sarah had first met. He was united with his friends and his King, knowing that if they failed, Sarah would die. He had no fear for his own life, only hers, more than willing to die as long as she would survive. So it was that the Goblin King had a strong unit surrounding him. Yet in all wars there are casualties.

Sarah watched with horror as Goblin after Goblin was cut down, tears blurred her vision as she wept for those she had come to know, and for those she had not yet had time to become acquainted with, and now never would. As she broadened her view, still focusing on Jareth and her close friends, but desperate to know how the rest of the fight was going, she saw the rest of the army bore their King's ferocity and determination in the fight. Gnomes and Goblins worked together, forging teams to confuse, disorientate and destroy their enemies. The Animalanis in human form remained at the back, near to the Labyrinth wall using their swords and their axes to prevent any enemy who broke through the defending army from getting into the Labyrinth itself. The last line of Animalanis stood with bows firing arrow after arrow over the heads of those that were fighting, deep into the heart of the enemy, killing many long before they reached the fray.

Those Animalanis that had changed to animal form had run between the Goblins and the Gnomes, so lithe were they that they could dart in and out of their fighting comrades, straight into the enemy host, attacking them for the most part without opposition. As the foes concentrated on moving forward, they paid no attention to the wolves, the jaguars and the other forms that were slipping around their legs, until they were swiftly and silently brought down. Sarah could see small isolated skirmishes break out where an Animalanis would be discovered, and every time she saw the rapid activity end, her heart broke, as she knew the noble creature that had strayed far into the enemies ranks had been slain.

Those Elementals that weren't fighting in the centre with Jareth, the Sylphs, the Undines and the Salamanders, had spread out along the edges of the fighting, killing all those that tried to spread around and encircle the defending force. As fighters, these were the weakest, all being out of their preferred elements and none being able to use their strongest powers because of it. But they stood strong, they fought bravely and for hours not one enemy got past them.

However the victories at the beginning of the battle did not continue. After many hours, most of the Animalanis that had ventured into enemy territory had been killed once their surprise had worn off, those that had survived were severely injured, barely able to make it back inside the Labyrinth. It was as the first of these crawled into the Labyrinth, bleeding profusely, that Sarah knew how she could help. Gathering all available females to her she gave them their instructions. The hardiest of the Goblin women head out to collect the injured and bring them back into the castle. Soon the throne room was filled with the wounded, then the dining room. All too soon they had to be left outside as the women did what they could for as many as possible. Too many died from their hurts, too many seemed unlikely to recover, but Sarah and her friends worked diligently to heal all they could.

Sarah had to fight to keep her anger at bay, not just for what had been done to these poor brave souls, but at the refusal of the Fae women to help them with their healing. The women who tended the injured were the servants in the castle, the female Goblins who were too old, too young or too weak to carry the wounded through the Labyrinth, and the Goblin children who helped carry water and healing supplies to the women. Sarah felt then the same unity with these women and children, as Jareth felt with his men on the battlefield. They were one, they would do all they could to help those that came to them. That the Fae stayed in their rooms, uncaring of the fate of those that warred outside the gates and those that waited near death within them, was astonishing to Sarah. How could someone be so close to so much pain, and yet so removed from it? She kept her anger in check, though barely, forcing herself to concentrate on those she tended, refusing to allow her rage to distract her from her task, as any small distraction could mean death for the one beneath her hands.


	32. Chapter 32

Outside the fight was going from bad to worse. So caught up in the battle was he, that Jareth could not take a second to compose himself in order to use magic, he was restricted to the ordinary means of war. Thankfully though, so were the opposition. Ludo was calling down the rocks on the enemy from the sides, but they were fighting in a barren wasteland, too few rocks were within range of his call. Although Jareth's army were killing more of the opposition than were being slain themselves, the army they faced outnumbered them immensely, there was no way they could win this battle as it stood.

Hours upon hours passed, and Jareth's army was dwindling dangerously. Realising he would have to do something drastic Jareth called those fighting closest to him to fall in, to create a two man thick circle around him and prevent any foe from breaking through. The Goblins, including Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus did as he said immediately, fighting all the more strongly now, even though they were beginning to tire noticeably.

Jareth could not help but be impressed by his men, they had all seen many a friend die, they faced unconquerable odds, and yet they stood strong, following his every command, pride fuelling their defence of their King. But this was not the time to dwell on such things. Drawing his power into himself he sent a telepathic message to the Elementals, giving them his plan in as short a time as possible.

Once that was done he sat down on the ground and began to draw his magic in tighter. The concentration this took was immense and many a time he was distracted by a stray weapon coming too close or one of his men stumbling backwards slightly. Yet he struggled on, blocking out everything around him, focusing on what he had to do. Almost an hour passed in this way. Once Jareth had drawn his power inward he then had to contain it whilst telepathically checking the Elementals were moving into place. All this put an immense strain on the Goblin King. He could feel himself weakening, feel the magic begin to stray back out. One man was not meant to hold this much magic and he knew he could not contain it much longer.

Eventually all the Elementals were in place, they all knew what they had to do. The Gnomes had gradually worked their way out of the fighting, massing in a group just off the edge of the battle. The Sylphs had gathered directly above the centre of the opposing army and now waited for their signal. The Undines had left the battle area altogether for a while but had returned and given Jareth the signal that they were ready. The Salamanders had remained at the edges of the battle, stopping any of the enemy breaking around and encircling Jareth's forces, yet in the final moments they had swiftly gone around the opposing army, completely surrounding it by spacing themselves out equally on the periphery.

Jareth felt the moment that all the pieces fell into place and telepathically issuing the orders for the Elementals to proceed and the rest of his army to fall to the ground, he let loose the full force of the power within him. Instantly the enemy was flattened to the ground, the magic physically throwing them off balance and momentarily pinning them down. That moment was all that was needed. As one, the Sylphs began to control the winds, directing them to form a whirlwind in the centre of the enemy army that was powerful enough to lift the creatures below into the air, throwing them violently in various directions. As the creatures were pulled from the ground many let go of their weapons in fear, so along with the soldiers, weapons of all shapes and sizes came flying out of the whirlwind at terrific speed. All those that were thrown were crushed by the impact of their landing, many more were killed from the speeding weapons, only Jareth's magic stopped any of the Underground fighters from being pierced by stray blades.

Whilst all this was going on, many of the enemy had got to their feet, confused and disorientated by the force that had pushed them to ground. None of them had noticed the clouds amassing overhead, until the rain began to fall, swiftly and heavily, guided by the Undines. Helmets began to fill with water, soldiers drowned in their own armour, events that were normally not possibly, but the power of the Undines was immense as they forced the water down throats, filling lungs. Meanwhile as the water began to soak into the ground, the earth quickly became mud. The Gnomes had banded together, forming a physical link to each other, combining their power and directing it at the mud beneath their enemies feet. The ground became unstable, soldier after soldier sank out of sight within seconds, suffocating in the impossibly deep mud. Others were blinded by it, often injuring their comrades with their weapons in their panic or even falling on their own swords.

As the chaos within the army spread, the Salamanders on the edge formed a ring of fire that prevented any within the circle from fleeing. The enemy was trapped, fighting unseen forces, falling en mass to the elements of nature. Jareth and his Goblins stood watching. There was no gloating, no cheering, no joy at the sight of their enemies perishing. They felt a relief and an elation that they were to survive, but there were no smiles as they watched death prevail, only a profound sense of loss, mourning the wastes of war.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jareth stood surveying the bodies in front of him. His subjects were mixed in with those of the enemy. His army had won, but Jareth felt no joy in the victory. Quietly he gave his men orders.

"Take our men who are injured back to the castle, Sarah and the women have already started tending to many. Carry the dead down in the tombs that lie beneath the Labyrinth, give them a place to lie together, comrades forever in the lands of the dead. As for the enemies, end their suffering swiftly, show them the mercy they would not have shown to us, then burn the corpses."

"And what makes you think we want this mercy?" The voice was weak, but it came from barely a meter away. One of Gerard's men lay near death, his life's blood pouring out of his chest with every breath.

"Hold your tongue lest that mercy turn to torture." There was fury in Jareth's eyes once more.

"You think I fear you? You think you have won? This was a battle, a small victory, the next fight shall be the deciding one. You shall be wiped out Jareth, and your little whore will die in agony not long after."

In a fury Jareth reached down and grabbed him by the neck, yet despite the restricted flow of oxygen, the man in his hands simply laughed.

"What makes you think that there shall be another fight?" Jareth hissed. "Though Gerard may have kept some of his forces back, his numbers are severely diminished, we will slaughter the few men he sends against us."

"Men? It is not men you need to fear. The Creatures of the Land will wipe out every man, woman and child in your Kingdom and when the land is empty Gerard will move in and torture your beloved to death. There will be nothing left of your family, your lands will be twisted out of all recognition and all you ever loved will be gone."

The soldier laughed once more before succumbing to a coughing fit that signalled the end of his life. Jareth stood silently, pondering what had just been said. So it was true that Gerard had allies. How he had convinced the Creatures of the Land to join him Jareth did not know, but it was clear now that he had. The news was severe, the soldier had been right, this was a mere battle. Many were slain, hundreds more wounded. If Gerard attacked with the Creatures of the Land at his side, the Labyrinth could not stand against them. The High King of the Underground felt despair creep into his heart, but he would not succumb to it. The enemy had made one fatal mistake, and that was in telling his army his plan. In an attempt to scare Jareth, the soldier had revealed the coming attack and therefore destroyed the element of surprise Gerard was no doubt counting on.

The next battle was not going to be easy. Countless more lives would be lost. The odds of the Underground being victorious were almost impossible. The despair within him demanded to be acknowledged, but Jareth forced it down. His subjects faced total annihilation, but he would not just give up. Jareth stood surveying the battlefield for a few more minutes before he headed slowly back to the castle. He knew what he had to do.


	33. Chapter 33

Sarah struggled on valiantly, feeling her strength leaving her by the minute. She was pregnant, a tiring task at the best of times, but she'd been on her feet for over twelve hours, tending the injured relentlessly. She wasn't sure how long she could keep on going before she collapsed, yet every time she thought of resting, she thought of the men out on the battlefield. They could not rest, and neither would she. So, with considerable effort, she stood, leaving the man whose wound she had just stitched, to move on to the next.

At that point she heard a commotion outside in the courtyard and moments later a Goblin ran through the door shouting "we won!" over and over again as it ran around in circles, weaving a path through the injured men laying on the floor. Sarah quickly ran over to the Goblin and could barely get the words out to ask if Jareth was okay.

"He's fine Lady Sarah." The little Goblin replied with a huge grin on its face. "He gots all the Elementals together and…"

That was the last Sarah heard, her full exhaustion finally hit her. Filled with the relief that the war was over and Jareth was safe, she passed out.

She awoke to find herself in Jareth's bedroom, the man she loved leaning over her in concern. She saw the light in his eyes as he registered she was awake before she threw herself into his arms. She barely had the energy to move, but she knew that if she did not hold her future husband now, knowing he was alive and safe, she would not be able to contain the joy inside her.

Jareth hugged her back just as tightly, glad she was okay. Yet for all his happiness, a fear touched his heart. She was weak, dangerously so. She'd been working for too many hours, tending too many sick. She hadn't eaten, hadn't drunk anything. He knew she had stopped feeling the baby hours ago, and with this fainting spell his fears had escalated. He was finally beginning to accept that they may have lost their child, and it broke his heart. He kept hoping though, a blind faith that kept him going, factoring in her tiredness, her concentration on the task, her distraction of worrying about him, everything he could to convince himself that their baby was fine, but the fear still tugged at him, trying to drag him down into despair. He resolved not to let it. He still had a war to fight.

Pulling away from Sarah slowly, he looked into her eyes for the longest time before speaking.

"Sarah, we won the battle, but many of ours were lost, and after the victory we discovered that Gerard has enlisted the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth to fight for him." He heard her gasp but he had to continue. "The Elementals are exhausted, worn out by their efforts in this last battle, efforts without which we would most surely have lost. Many Goblins and Gnomes were killed. Almost all of the Animalanis of fierce creatures are gone, and the Faeries still have not returned. We need to recruit a whole new army, and I need you by my side to do this."

Wordlessly Sarah closed her eyes whilst she composed her thoughts, before finally opening them and simply nodding. Her King needed her and she resolved to be his true Queen despite the fear inside her. Immediately Jareth was on his feet, summoning a messenger Goblin to gather every subject within the entire underground to the castle. Most of them were already here. As Sarah looked out the window she saw the sun rising above the horizon. The fighting had lasted well into the night, ending a few hours after midnight, she had been unconscious for only four hours. It was as she watched the sun begin to appear, that glorious ball of light peak out from behind the distant mountains that it dawned on her. Today was her wedding day. But there would be no wedding. No celebrations. No rituals to follow. Today would not be a day of joy, a day of unity. Today would be a day of war, of death, of suffering….

She was startled out of her thoughts by a gentle hand on her arm. Turning she looking into the eyes of the man who should have become her husband this day and she steeled herself against the horrors that lay ahead. Gently Jareth bid her to rise and led her towards the door, insisting that she ate a hearty breakfast though she had no appetite. She would need all her strength for today, many still needed her healing, and many more would come. As she walked towards the door she couldn't help but glance towards the door to her room, the room where her wedding dress hung, ready for a ceremony that may never occur. She allowed herself three seconds to feel the fear, three seconds to feel the sorrow, and then she shut it out. That was a part of her that had no place today. Today she would act like the Queen she was supposed to have become. Jareth needed her.


	34. Chapter 34

After Sarah had forced down as much food as she could for her husband, she left him to go back to tending the wounded. She was surprised to find Carnice and Kara still working. She knew that Carnice was full Fae, so she was more than capable of working for this length of time, but Sarah worried about Kara. However when she insisted that her friend get some rest she was told that Kara had eaten a full meal and grabbed three hours sleep before she had awakened and come back. None of the women wanted to rest, they ate and slept only when they became too tired for work, returning as soon as they'd recovered enough to begin again.

The hours passed swiftly, until a Goblin informed her that her presence was required outside the castle. By this time all the injured had been moved inside, although the throne room and a meeting room were still filled with those who hadn't yet been seen. Many of those who had been tended to had been moved into the infinite number of new guest rooms. So it was outside the castle that Jareth had decided to gather his subjects.

Sarah could not help but gasp when she exited the castle. The Goblin city was gone, in its place a vast open area. But it was not the absence of the Goblin city that made her gasp, it had no doubt been magically transported to another part of the labyrinth to allow for the gathering, it was the people that shocked Sarah. Never in all her wildest hopes had she envisioned that the subjects of the Underground existed in such vast numbers. She could not see the end of the crowd, could not possibly fathom the number of Fae that stood in front of her, and she realised that the people gathered nearest the steps of the castle where Jareth stood, were all in fact Fae. Way in the distance she could see gatherings of Goblins and Animalanis, but all those near the front were Fae. She understood this, understood that these were the ones who needed to hear what Jareth was going to say, so they had to be closest to him. Yet the looks on the Fae faces shattered her hope, she saw indifference, boredom, even slight anger at being summoned like peasants. These people would not fight, they had no reason to. Yet as she stood beside her future husband, she could see his determination clearly. Clasping her hand in his, he began to address the assembled crowd.

"My noble Fae. You gather here today on the steps of the castle of a Kingdom at war. You hear a King, preparing to lead his troops into battle. You see women tending the wounded of a battle recently fought and barely won. And yet you stand here waiting for a wedding. A wedding that cannot happen until this war is over, until the enemy is defeated. You stand bored, anticipating the festivities the union with bring with it, longing for the fighting to end so that you can continue with your lives after the wedding is concluded. And so I stand here to tell you that this _will not happen_."

There was a brief silence at his words, a slight shock went through the Fae at the fierceness in which Jareth spoke the last few words.

"There will be no wedding. You will not go back to your lives because you will not have lives to go back to. The battle just fought was fought hard, many were lost, countless more injured, the Elementals are exhausted and unable to fight, and the Faeries have still not returned. On top of this we received news that Gerard has enlisted the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth to aid him in the next battle."

A ripple of whispers spread through the crowd, fear beginning to touch those previously unaffected by the war.

"Our numbers are severely reduced, theirs are severely enhanced. I stand before you as your King telling you that I cannot win this war, and yet still, I see the defiance in your faces, still you will not fight. And so I ask you this. Should we lose this war, what will you have then? Gerard will take the Labyrinth, and without a High King, the whole of the Underground shall soon follow. No longer will you be the Noble Fae, you shall be reduced to slaves, tortured and imprisoned, forced to do his bidding. He'll strip your magic for his own, destroy the lands in which you live, take your homes, your food, kill your family and everybody you care about. Evil shall reign through the land and all you ever loved will be lost. Weddings will seem a thing of the past, happiness shall have no home here. Your lives will be misery and pain, and countless of you shall die in the purge of Gerard's invasion. I ask you to join this war now, not for the Labyrinth, not for the Goblins, not even for me. I ask you to join this war for yourselves, for your families, for your homes. For your lives. This may not have been your war in the beginning, but it is now. I am High King of the Underground, and if I fall, so do all four of its glorious Kingdoms. Would you see your lands fall into chaos and ruin for your pride? Trea will not fight, but will you let his decision condemn you to hell? These are your lands, more so than they will ever be his. There is no escape from this war, should you leave the Underground the magic in you will fade, your spirit will shrink, no Fae can survive for long outside the borders of this land. So I stand here before you, not just as your King, but as a fellow subject of the Underground, and I ask you this: Will you die needlessly, will you watch Gerard's army sweep over this land destroying everything in his path? Or will you call on that raw power of the Fae and stand against Gerard's hordes? Will you find that pride within yourself, that love for these lands, and defend your very lives against the plague that threatens all? **Will you fight for the Underground**?!"

His voice had been rising in volume throughout the speech, and the last six words were a shout so fierce it pierced the hearts of all those listening. Sarah felt pride for her husband surge through her as she saw all those assembled before her slowly lose their arrogant looks, the fear begin to overtake them, then finally, almost as one, they threw their arms in the air and let forth an almighty cheer. Jareth had done it, despite all Trea's efforts, Jareth had united his subjects to the defence of his lands, of their lands. Though the war would be far from easy, there was a chance now.

Sarah smiled with renewed hope, but when she looked at Jareth, she found no trace of a smile in him. He was facing the destruction of all the lands he called home, and once again she was reminded that this was all her fault, had she never come to the Underground none of this would have happened. The Goblin King would still be the Goblin King, the Underground would be safe, Toby would be safe…

"And you would be dead," Jareth had seen the sorrow in her eyes and guessed its source correctly. "Hundreds would still be enslaved in the Caves, Toby would have been left without a sister and the Goblin Kingdom would never have had a Queen, for its King could never love another." Jareth turned her to face him as he spoke, lifting her chin gently with his hand so she looked into his eyes. "For all the bad things that have happened, for all that's still to come, I will never regret bringing you here Sarah, neither will any of those you've saved. Look at Kara when you go back inside, look into her eyes and her heart. Should she die tomorrow, she would not regret your coming here, could not regret the happiness you've given her, happiness she never hoped to feel again. You have done many great things Sarah, and we will get Toby back, we will win this war." Gently he kissed her before holding her to himself. "I will not lose you Sarah. I will not."


	35. Chapter 35

Sarah and Jareth went back inside the castle to find his parents waiting for them in the throne room. Wordlessly they all transported to the library where Jareth's siblings were assembled. The look on Trea's face clearly said the only reason he had stayed within the castle during Jareth's speech was because his father had not let him leave. Now Jareth was here however, he was not about to stay silent any longer.

"How dare you speak to my people that way? This not their war, they should not have to fight for a King who puts the entire Underground in danger over a _mortal_."

It had been a while since Sarah had been spoken of with such contempt, and she was surprised that it still hurt so much to hear. Yet she knew it was that he spoke the truth of her involvement rather than the way he spoke the word 'mortal' that had caused her pain. She felt herself stiffen with apprehension as Jareth let go of her hand and walked over to his oldest brother.

"You may be their King, but they are not your people, for years you've been poisoning them against me, then you used this war as an excuse to further your own plans. But all it took was five minutes, five minutes of hearing their High King speak words of truth instead lies, and they turned their back on you. You lost Trea, and listen carefully, for I will not repeat myself. Should you interfere once more, should you try to turn a single subject against me, should you affect this war in any way, I shall not only strip you of your title, of your lands and of your powers," Jareth moved closer to Trea until his nose was a mere inch away from his brothers before all but whispering his final words, "I will kill you."

The finality of Jareth's words rang through the room. Here was a man fighting for everything he cared about, everything he believed in. He knew the suffering that awaited his subjects should he fail, and to prevent that he would sacrifice much… even his own brother.

For a few seconds neither brother so much as blinked, until eventually Trea looked away, unable to bear the anger in Jareth's eyes. Satisfied he would have no further trouble Jareth turned to go back to Sarah, but was stopped by the sound of mocking laughter.

"Tough words from one so weak."

The sound of Aladrea's voice sent a fiery anger through Sarah's veins. Did Jareth not have enough enemies without his own siblings being against him?

"I remember when you were a powerful King. Gerard's wanted the Goblin Kingdom for years, wanted revenge for what was done to his brother. Yet he never made a move against you, he was always too afraid of you." Aladrea slowly moved towards her brothers as she spoke. Jareth's face was empty of all emotion as he listened to her words. "A month doesn't seem like very long at all, but that's all it took for you to go from a powerful King who invokes fear in his enemies hearts…" As she finally stood face to face with Jareth, Aladrea turned her head to look at Sarah, a sneer forming of her mouth as she continued. "Into this mortal bitch's pet."

Aladrea had hardly spoken the last word before she found herself on the floor, thrown across the room against a bookcase hard enough to knock all the books to the floor, and silence her for a few seconds. This was more than long enough to allow Jareth to cross the room and pick her up from the floor by her neck. Fae could not die by suffocation, but preventing airflow to the lungs was painful nonetheless, and an effective way of preventing speaking.

"Understand Aladrea, this war is bigger than your petty grievances with my fiancé. If I fail, the Underground will fall, and life will be far from pleasant for all who live here, you included. You have known nothing of pain or hardship in your entire life, but if you do not leave the Goblin Kingdom right now, I promise you I'll give you a taste of what is to come if my army loses this war."

As Sarah watched her future husband, she got a glimpse of the power he held inside. And the darkness. Just as her eyes went white when she summoned her full power, so now, his turned to fire. The glow was reflected in Aladrea's face, but Sarah could read nothing there. The haughty, arrogant look was gone, but there was no fear at her brother's threats, no sign of the pain of his hand around her throat, no indication she cared either way about the outcome of the war. When Jareth released her, she simply smirked at him and disappeared.

For a while there was silence, the severity of the situation having fully sunk in now. The fury and determination Jareth was showing had finally won through the veil of denial that shrouded all of them. Jareth had lived the horror of life under Gerard's rule, he alone understood the true consequences of defeat. The darkness that had been glimpsed in the Goblin King when Jareth's soul was split, was coming to the fore. His desire, his need to win this war had turned him cold. Sarah longed to go to him, to hold him, to comfort him, but the man she faced now was not the man she loved. He was the Goblin King, and for the Underground to have a chance at victory, he must remain so.

As Sarah looked around the room, she noticed that even Trea looked worried, although he would never admit it. As King of the Fae, he could not fight even if he wanted, but no longer did he seem intent on opposing his brother. When he left a few minutes later, it was with a promise to support Jareth, and let his people know they were under the full command of the High King. A small victory, but significant nonetheless. Finally there was hope of a united army, and with the new threat of the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth, only a united army had any chance of success.

Jareth's parents left not long after that to try and find the Faeries who should have returned by now for the wedding. Their absence was worrying and everyone knew they would be needed in this war. Jareth and Sarah were left alone, but despite the closeness they had shared just moments before entering this room, there was now a clear barrier between them. Jareth's row with his siblings had brought his strength to the fore, he needed his strength to lead his army, and he needed his Queen firmly behind him. Sarah's nod was almost imperceptible, but the deal had been sealed. They understood their roles in this war now, and nothing would come between them and what they had to do. Nothing, but death.


	36. Chapter 36

Gerard was worried. No, not worried, terrified was a better word for it. His mistress had disappeared near the beginning of the battle, presumably to watch the outcome from a better vantage point. Gerard, however, had remained in his castle and watched the war through a scrying pool. He knew war protocol demanded he lead his armies to battle, but he had never been one to follow the rules, why risk your own life when you had so many others to risk theirs instead? So he had remained behind, watching for a safe distance. For a while his heart had soared as his army gained ground over the enemy. He could almost taste victory, it seemed so assured. Then suddenly, disaster. He replayed the scene over and over, but still could not understand how it had gone so horribly wrong. Not one soldier he had sent out had survived, those not killed in the final assault were too wounded to survive and had been granted death by Jareth's orders. Gerard spat at the thought. Mercy, such weakness from one with so much power. He felt his fear turn to anger at the injustice of it all, that he should be without power yet so strong, and one so weak be High King of the Underground. Still, there was time for victory yet.

As the thought passed through his mind, his mistress appeared. He expected anger, magic, danger, instead he beheld the dangerous calm once more. His terror returned, he had no idea how his mistress would react to the defeat. However, she did not even acknowledge his presence, simply walked slowly over to the boy chained to the wall and knelt before him. Placing her hand under Toby's chin she slowly raised his head so he gazed at her face. The hatred burning in his eyes would have made Gerard pause, but his mistress did not react, merely looked at him in silence for a few seconds before speaking.

"Do you know why I want your sister dead?" The words were quiet with no emotion behind them, she could have been asking for the time of day by the tone she used. There was no reaction from Toby other than a slight hardening of the mouth.

The move was so quick Gerard almost missed it, only the harsh crack of sound and the tears that appeared in Toby's eyes gave evidence to the slap she had given him.

"Do you know why I want you sister dead?" Once again there was no emotion in her voice, and no response from Toby, but after the second slap, Gerard finally heard a timid "No." from the boy.

"It's because she's weak. She's human, mortal, she can never be great, never be worthy of Fae Royalty. She has infected him with her weakness, and he in turn will infect the Kingdom. The Goblin Kingdom will fall, then the Underground. The once proud race of Fae will become no better than mortals, and that magnificent land will fall into chaos. This is why your Sarah must die."

Slowly she let go of Toby's chin and stood, turning to face Gerard.

"You wonder why I did not send the Creatures on the first attack."

It took all Gerard's strength just to nod.

"I wanted to give him one last chance. One chance to show that he is still strong, still Fae. A true King. Had he denounced Sarah, the Fae would have gladly fought by his side, this war would have been over in minutes. The Goblin Kingdom is mine by right, but I would have let him keep it. If he had proved he was worthy, I would have been happy for him to remain its ruler. Instead he still protects the mortal whore, and so he must be destroyed. There will be no more chances, no more mercy. It is time for the full horror of this war to be unleashed. Dispatch what remains of your army, the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth will lead them. Destruction will rain down on the Underground, Jareth and those loyal to him with be destroyed, those lands will become mine and under my rule they shall return to their full glory..."

Her eyes moved past Gerard, to a space far away. A grin spread across her face and her mind was lost as she spoke her final words.

"And Sarah will die such a death that never again will a subject of the Underground dare to love a mortal."

Gerard could think of nothing to say. He had lost control long ago, if he'd ever had it in the first place. He would dispatch his army, many would no doubt die, his mistress would gain the Underground, and he would be left alone in the Caves, to rule what few subjects remained to him. Sorrow filled his soul as silence filled the room, broken eventually only by soft sobs from the boy in the corner, weeping for his beloved sister.

**A/N I go away for a few days but I make it up to you by giving you two chapters. See, aren't I nice? Thank you for reading and please do review!!!**


	37. Chapter 37

The call to war came early the next morning. Although no one in the castle had managed to get more than a few hours fitful sleep, everyone was wide awake and ready for battle within ten minutes of the first soldier being spotted in the distance. Sarah followed Jareth out of the castle and down the steps to the army amassed in the courtyard. They were an impressive sight. The Goblins were now down the front, as they would be once again in battle, standing side by side with the King who had ruled them, and who they had loved, for many a year. Behind them were the few remaining Animalanis, such a small number left of what was once a great people. The tears came unbidden to Sarah's eyes at the sight, so much loss already and so much more to come. Of the Elementals, only the Gnomes were present. The Elementals had used a tremendous amount of energy in the previous battle, they were magically exhausted. Only the Gnomes were able to fight with weapons, so they would be representing their Kingdom in this battle. Behind the Gnomes amassed the Fae. Sarah's tears stopped and her heart filled with hope. Each Fae stood dressed in the armour of their family. Silver metal stronger than any steel, almost mirror like in its radiance, elegant designs carved into varying forms of armour and the subtle gleam of Fae skin assaulted the senses with an overwhelming impression of dignity and pride.

The army was waiting for their King to speak, but for a while it seemed he would not. He was looking over his soldiers, surveying the vast army, no doubt getting the same impression Sarah was, only he knew just how deadly the enemy was with their new allies. The silence stretched on a few more minutes before Jareth eventually spoke.

"It is traditional, before a battle, for the commander to give a rousing speech, but I believe I did that yesterday. You all know what is at stake here, you all know what and who it is that you are fighting for, you do not need me to tell you that. All I ask now, is that when you step out onto the battlefield, you remember that. You remember those you love, you remember your home, you focus your mind on what you are fighting for. Only then can we win. The enemy we are about to face is fierce beyond belief, give no mercy and expect none in return, for doing so will most definitely cost you your lives."

He paused for a few more seconds, and when he began again, his voice was softer, yet no less powerful.

"I ask you now to look around you, at your friends, your family, look at them and fix the Underground in your mind. Let it be your strength through the dark times ahead, fight with all you have, so that you may return to it. Remember, we are all citizens of this great land. We are all here with the same purpose; to protect it. Follow me now into battle, fight with all you have, but never forget what it is you're fighting for."

Although it didn't bring cheers, the speech served its purpose. It gave the soldiers something to hold on to through the horrors they were about to face, gave them a reason to fight, a focus that would enable them to win. Nevertheless, the army that marched towards the exit of the Labyrinth was a sombre one. Every single one of them faced death or the destruction of defeat, and they all knew it. The price of failure was far too high, they would fight with everything they had inside them.

Sarah prayed it would be enough.

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Jareth walked towards battle with a heavy heart. Once, back when he had been a slave, some youths from the Caves had dared to venture onto the Land of Arnagoth. They had been discovered in minutes and one of them had not been quick enough to escape back into the sea. Jareth had watched the guards carry in what was left of the boy two days later, after it was finally safe to retrieve the body. What Jareth saw in their arms was carnage, unrecognisable as a living being. The image of the slaughtered youth filled his mind as he walked, mixed with the images of those he loved. His heart hardened with every step. His fear turned to anger, that part that was human and kind receded, and the Goblin King took control.

The Underground army reached the gates to the Labyrinth long before the enemy did. They had a long time to file through and form ranks on the outside. As before, the Goblins and Gnomes flanked their King at the front of the army, the few remaining Animalanis spreading out along the wall of the Labyrinth, removing the first arrow from their quiver, but not yet readying themselves for shooting it. The fire, water and air Elementals were absent, as were the Faeries, a fact that was beginning to gnaw at Jareth. The Fae spread out behind the King, forming a fearsome wall of silver armour. As the Goblin King glanced back, to check all was ready as the enemy advanced closer and closer, the sight of the proud, strong Fae hardened his heart once more. Gone were thoughts of Sarah, gone were thoughts of defeat, gone were the worries about the missing Faeries. His mind focused on the war ahead, on the victory they must achieve, despite the overwhelming odds.

Of the entire army, Jareth was the only one who had ever seen a Creature of the Land of Arnagoth, he focused the image in his mind now, strengthening his resolve against the fear he knew would overtake his soldiers at the sight that awaited them once the Creatures came into focus. His eyes closed, his breathing shallow, he said a prayer to the Old Gods to give strength to the hearts of his soldiers. When he opened his eyes once more, he watched the approaching army move closer, step by step, watched their images sharpen, their forms become clear. To their credit, not one soldier ran, cowered or so much as gasped as they caught sight of those who approached, intent on destroying them. Yet Jareth felt them weaken, felt their strength waver. He raised his sword, turning to face his army, his steely gaze reminding them of what they were fighting for. As he turned back to face the enemy, sword aloft, preparing to charge, he spoke only one word before running the remaining distance between the two armies, hearing the roar from his own soldiers, knowing they would fight with all they had…

"REMEMBER!!!!!!!!"

A/N So I've had quite a few people add this story to their favourites/alerts over the past few weeks, but no reviews. I really would appreciate any comments you could give, even negative ones, as long as they're constructive. Feedback really does help improve my writing and inspire me to write more, so please review if you can.

HazlgrnLizzy, empty-spaces, notwritten, love you guys! Your reviews always put a smile on my face, hope you keep enjoying the story!


	38. Chapter 38

The first thing Sarah noticed, as she gazed through her rose sphere at the enemy, was the size. At an average height of 10ft, bulked out to a width of almost six, the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth were a fearsome sight. The bones in their fingers were thick and wide, forming a plate of bone for a greater impact when hitting an opponent. Broad muscled arms for ripping limbs from bodies, strong jaws, heavy legs, bodies perfectly designed for ultimate carnage. But although it was their size that caught her attention, it was their eyes that caused her breath to catch in fear. Lidded pools of darkness, as devoid of life as they were of colour. Even through the distance of magic, Sarah could feel the malevolence leaking through those eyes, a hatred so intense it could not be contained. A feeling of despair began to creep over Sarah, seeping through the sphere as she gazed into the eyes of a race determined to wipe out her Kingdom. It took all her strength to wrench her gaze away from those eyes, and as soon as she was focused on the interior of the castle, the feeling of despair faded. The rules of battle had just been changed. How do you beat an opponent when looking into its eyes brings pure desolation? She hoped the armies had enough strength to fend off the darkness, but she could not rely on hope any longer.

Quickly she rushed through the castle in search of the Fae women unable to go to war; those old, pregnant or with young children. They had all offered to help the wounded, but Sarah quickly split them in half. Her plan was simple, by forming links with those fighting at the front, the women could lend the men their courage. Although the men would have to look into the Creatures eyes to fight them, maybe the hearts of the women could keep the fear at bay, long enough for victory. She knew it would not be easy, the fear of losing the men they loved already weighed heavily on the Fae women, and so it was the strongest of these that Sarah chose to help the men. She ushered them into a room at the very top of one the of the castle's towers, far away from the chaos that would soon erupt in the lower castle once the wounded began to arrive. The women would need peace, quiet and calm in order to concentrate on forming links with the men at the front. It was the women that would have to face the despair at the hands of the Creatures, allowing the men to fight unhindered. This battle would not be easily won, and it would involve every single subject of the Underground, but Sarah still had hope, she knew that despite the odds they faced, there was still a chance of victory.

For a while Sarah contemplated her role in this war. Jareth, like all the others at the front, would have to face the Creatures, and although he had the strength of a King, the despair may still get a grip on him. The most obvious solution was to form a link with him herself, but she feared she would not be strong enough. The despair that had filled her from the Creatures eyes had fed on the pain deep inside her. With all the events of recent times, Sarah had been distracted from the memories of her attack, but a single glance into those black eyes had brought it all back. There was no longer any barrier to keep the pain hidden, she had come too far in her recovery since Jareth's re-appearance in her life to consider removing herself from the pain, then having to face it all anew later on. She could not live with a part of herself hidden, the barrier could not remain forever, so she had not asked Jareth to re-forge it upon their return to the Underground. So the pain remained, the fear, the hate, the shame invaded her heart as she thought once again of what had happened to her. No, she could not help Jareth. The despair from the Creatures would only feed on her memories, sap her strength. Although she felt herself to be a coward, running from the anguish, she summoned Carnice, bade her to form a link with Jareth, give him her strength, protect him from what he would see in the Creatures eyes. Then Sarah returned to the throne room, and began the long watch, waiting for the first of the injured to arrive.


	39. Chapter 39

The first clash of battle was deafening. Moments before, each of the soldiers at the front, the Goblins, the Gnomes, the Fae and the King himself had felt a warmth envelope them. None knew what it meant, but they all felt as though they were not alone, and all gained hope from the feeling. Seconds later the two armies met and all thoughts but those of war were driven from the soldiers' minds.

The fighting was beyond fierce. With a single sweep of an arm a Creature could move five Goblins out of its path, hurling them into yet more Goblins with such force as to injure every one of them. The Gnomes didn't fare much better, only the Fae could stand their ground against the immense strength of their enemies arms. Jareth soon dispatched the Goblins and Gnomes from his side, sending them to the edges of the army, getting them to encircle the enemy and fight the subjects of the Caves of Arnagoth who remained at the rear. In these battles the Goblins and Gnomes regained their footing, their superior fighting skills making up for their lack of magic and height.

Back at the front, the Fae were losing ground quickly. Their magic was limited in such close quarters, any spell directed at the enemy could injure their own troops. As fighters, the Fae were much more skilled and practised than the Creatures, but they were overpowered by brute strength. There were very few losses, but the casualties were high. One swift blow from a Creature shattered bones, incapacitating them instantly. It took an incredible effort to simply make sure no Fae was trampled on as the Underground army was slowly but surely pushed backwards towards the Labyrinth.

There was very little time for thinking during the battle, nevertheless, Jareth did notice the lack of fear in his men, and in himself. He had heard tales of the power of the Creatures eyes, yet felt nothing when he gazed into them. His thoughts sped back to the feeling of not being alone, curious as to what magic was being used here, however at that moment he was flanked by two Creatures simultaneously and it was all he could do to stop them getting close enough to do damage. A large thanks in this went to his loyal subjects. Although he had sent the Goblins and Gnomes to fight the soldiers from the Caves, Sir Didymus, Ludo and Hoggle had refused to leave their King. Of all the soldiers at his side, it was Ludo, with his superior girth and strength, who was doing the most damage to the enemy. Once again all thoughts but battle were driven from his mind as more Creatures closed in. Things were looking bad, for every Creature they killed, at least five Fae were injured beyond fighting. Jareth attempted to form a plan, but the onslaught was unceasing, he couldn't keep his thoughts straight long enough to come up with an idea.

The hours passed and the Fae army dwindled dangerously. Jareth had long ago given up hope of a respite long enough to use magic, but he had not given up hope altogether. He did not know how the Goblins and Gnomes fared, but very few soldiers from the Caves were making their way through the Creatures to fight the Fae, so he had to assume they were doing well. As for his own troops, as each one fell, they usually had enough magic to transport themselves back to the castle, those who did not were either dragged away by those closest, or trampled to death by the Creatures. Morale was fading fast, despair began to set in, but all was not lost.

It was while Jareth and his three most loyal subjects were fighting off a knot of six Creatures, that he heard a sound that filled his heart with joy. At first it was merely a faint sound of tiny bells, drifting over the clash of metal, but Jareth knew that only the subjects of the Underground would be able to hear it. The sound told of the coming of reinforcements, a possibility the King had hoped for but not dared depend upon.

The Faeries gathered in a knot over the head of their King, making themselves known to both their allies and enemies. In the faces of the opposing army there was no change, the Creatures knew nothing of fear, only hate, anger and destruction, yet in the faces of the soldiers of the Underground, hope shone out anew. For the first time, they would have magic on their side. The Fae around the King tried to close ranks, shut him off from the enemy to give him the time to instruct the Faeries, but the fighting was simply too fierce. In the end Jareth gave a short message to Lord Lenea via a crystal.

"Do what you can. Save our Kingdom."

There was no reply, only a curt nod from the head of the Faerie clan before he led them away from the fighting. Within minutes they were back, once again remaining in the air above the fighting, but this time they moved out to the centre of the Creatures. There they formed a ring. Beneath them, within the ring, were around twenty Creatures. The magic took a while to build up, but soon disturbances began to appear within the army. Confusion reigned as some Creatures went blind, others felt searing pain for the first time in their lives, some lost the use of their limbs, whilst others saw opponents where there were none. Fighting broke out within what had previously been extremely organized ranks. The Creatures turned on each other, wreaking more destruction than they had on their enemies as the Faeries poured malice and even fear into their hearts. The despair from their eyes infected each other, and the circle of chaos grew.

Jareth could not see what was going on, he could only pray the Faeries had some effect on the war. The Creatures that were fighting at the front were not affected by the Faeries magic, their resolve was unwavering, but as the soldiers of the Underground brought these down, they began to notice fewer Creatures were taking their place. The fighting lessened slightly, those most exhausted were given a brief respite and some Fae were able to escape the fray and use magic of their own to fight the enemy.

Spirits within the Underground soared, their efforts redoubled, more and more Creatures and soldiers of the Caves fell, the balance of war was shifting. But victory was not yet secure. The battle had begun at dawn, and dusk now approached. Many lives had been lost, yet many more still remained, and although the Creatures were confused by the Faeries magic, those fighting the enemy regained their focus and the killing continued. Even with all this though, victory seemed not only possible, but probable for the Underground. Jareth felt his heart swell with pride at his subjects.

It was during this moment of joy that all hope faded. Since their arrival the Faeries had been concentrating on the Creatures, knowing the Goblins and Gnomes were more than holding their own against the soldiers of the Caves of Arnagoth, and it had been so long since one of the soldiers had slipped through the wall of Creatures to face the Fae, they had been all but forgotten about by those at the front. It was to prove to be a dangerous oversight. Jareth lowered his sword, momentarily resting his arms whilst the Creature he had been fighting burst into flames, a spell wrought by one of the Fae that had managed to keep from fighting long enough to focus his magic. Jareth's vision was blurred by tears from the heat and he took a step back. In the instant his vision cleared, he had a moment to register the soldier thrust its arm towards him. At first there was no pain, exhaustion had taken over, shock clouded his senses, disbelief blinded him to the truth. But as he sank to his knees and saw the pool of red grow upon the ground beneath him, the Goblin King began to realize the truth. He had lost.

Before the thought had passed through his mind, Lord Lenea realized his folly and killed the soldier, but the damage was done. As Jareth sunk lower towards the ground he saw his men form ranks around him, cutting him off from the enemy. Only those closest to him had seen what had happened and they understood the mental disadvantage to losing their leader. Although the grief stung their hearts they fought all the more bravely, determined that no other soldier would know of the fate that had befallen their leader. Only Sir Didymus, Ludo and Hoggle stopped fighting, horror stricken that they had failed to keep their leader safe. As Hoggle knelt beside his King in supplication, he heard Jareth whisper one word.

"Sarah".


	40. Chapter 40

Sarah felt the unmistakable ripple of fear shoot through her that she knew meant that Jareth was in trouble. She abandoned the soldier she was tending to and rushed over to the window. The link between her and Jareth had grown so strong she knew something was wrong as soon as he was injured. As she stood at the window of the throne room gazing out at the Labyrinth, though unable to see the fight itself, she felt the blade go through Jareth, as though it were her own body that was pierced. With a cry of agony she fell to her knees, though it was not physical pain she was feeling, but a grief and fear so tangible that for a while she could focus on nothing but those feelings.

She could feel herself surrounded by people, women desperate to know what was wrong, but she could not see them. No longer needing to summon a rose sphere she simply shut her eyes and willed her consciousness over the battlefield. She found him there, lying on the floor, a pool of blood growing around him. His men had surrounded him, keeping the enemies at bay, and Hoggle knelt down by his King, unable to do more than whisper 'my liege'.

There seemed to be no conscious thought, no plan, no idea of how she might do it, yet Sarah knew she had to get Jareth back to the castle. There was no way they could carry him out of there in time, he was right in the centre of the fighting. Focusing her energy, Sarah drew in close to Jareth, vaguely aware of Hoggle gasping and stumbling back, then quickly, with an immense burst of energy, she felt herself reach out and grab Jareth. Instantly she opened her eyes and found herself back in the throne room, lying on the floor by the window, and as she sat up she found Jareth laid next to her. She couldn't truly understand how she'd done it, but her mind was too consumed with the task ahead to ponder it. Quickly she urged the other women back, needing space before carefully removing the sword from Jareth's gut and applying pressure to the wound. Without thinking she began to pour her magic into Jareth. All day she'd been holding back from using magic, instead using mortal methods of healing, and now she knew why, she'd need all she could to simply keep Jareth alive. Her fear from moments ago had faded, so intent was she on the task at hand. However not five minutes had passed when Jareth opened his eyes. Sarah felt a rush of hope, but it evaporated when she saw the faded feverish look in them.

"Sarah" he croaked.

"No, don't speak, you must rest." She countered, tears falling from her eyes at the sight of the man she loved so weak.

"No, Sarah, stop. You cannot save me." he was cut off as his body was racked with coughs. Sarah was horrified to see blood spill from the corner of his mouth.

"My part in this war is over. I can no longer fight. It is up to you now. You hold the lives of our people in your hands. If this war continues out there we shall lose, their numbers are too big, the Creatures too fierce." Sarah felt the fear invade her soul once more at his words.

'But you are stronger than all of them Sarah, you have the power to stop them." His voice was fading, his eyes all but closed. "Take out the Creatures, if you take them out of the battle we will win."

With that he once again lapsed into unconsciousness. The blood was still pouring out of him, he didn't have long left.

Standing slowly Sarah looked at the women around her, Carnice now one of them, having felt Jareth's injury through her own link with him.

"Carnice, heal him"

There were no questions, no hesitations, Carnice knelt down over her King, focusing her magic on his wounds. The other women went back to their patients, sensing Sarah needed to be alone. Instantly Sarah moved to her bedroom, gazing out over the Labyrinth to the war raging outside its walls.

There was no conscious thought, Jareth had given her the idea without her even knowing. Slowly she closed her eyes and raised her arms so that, fingers splayed, she reached out towards the labyrinth. Once more she focused her energy, projecting her spirit out towards the fight. But it was not her soldiers she was reaching out to, it was the Creatures. She could feel them, their anger, their hatred against all they surveyed, their determination to wipe out all that opposed them. But under that was something stronger. A power rippled through them, one that was not their own, it linked them, joined them as one in their task. She could feel the anger being fed into them, feel the shackles that bound them to another's purpose and it was then that she knew what she had to do.

With her magic she gripped the chains of power than bound them to another and felt, as a one, every Creature on the battlefield stop, but it was only for a second before they regained their focus and continued. Sarah began to pour her power into the chains, overloading them in an attempt to destroy them. It wasn't easy, the vile essence of the person who forged them was strong, and Sarah was weak after her long hours of treating the wounded. She would not give up though. It was as she felt herself running out of energy that Sarah felt the force behind the chains, the saw the face of one who had led this army against her people, the one who had tried to kill her on more than one occasion and had kidnapped her little brother . She knew who had planned all this now, knew who'd brought them all to this violent conclusion, knew who'd killed so many of her subjects her friends, through their depraved planning. She knew who'd killed the man she loved.

With the realization came a fury so potent her magic ripped apart the chains and left in their place something different, stronger. Where once had been shackles, now was freedom. Once again the creatures stopped fighting, but this time they did not continue. As a single unit they turned to face the direction of the castle, although they couldn't possibly see her, and as Sarah watched in amazement, they fell to their knees.

Although they had been Fae touched before, it had come upon them unaware and they had been forced into this war by the will of that Fae. Now Sarah had freed them, but upon issuing that freedom, she had not forged shackles of her own. She had given them their freedom and asked for nothing in exchange. They may have been creatures of violence, rage and darkness, but they had their own sense of honour. Sarah had released them from their slavery, given them back their honour, and they would repay their debt to her in full. As the creatures fell upon their knees Sarah felt a force come from them, a force so strong it physically threw her backwards, knocked her unconscious with an immense rush of power.

It was a long time before she became aware of her surroundings again, but when she did, she knew the war was over. Running to the window she gazed out into a silent battlefield. As she focused in with her magic she saw the Creatures still knelt, facing the castle. The power surging between her and this mighty force was overwhelming, momentarily blocking out all other thoughts. But this was not the time for idleness.

Sarah's first instinct was to go to Jareth, see how he was doing, help him heal. But the thought left her head almost as soon as it entered. Even if Carnice had managed to heal Jareth, Sarah knew he'd be too weak to do anything. She knew, however, that the Creatures were immobile. The Underground's army had overpowered what remained of Gerard's soldiers in the confusion that had followed, but their own bewilderment was just as great. Their King had disappeared mid-battle, those who knew of his injury not wanting to tell others for fear of causing them despair at losing their leader. Their fiercest opponents had suddenly ceased fighting and a war destined for defeat had suddenly ended in victory. Without a leader the conquering army were simply waiting for orders from a King who was in no fit state to give them. After shakily getting to her feet, still unsteady with the power coming from the Creatures that was flowing through her body, Sarah realized it was up to her to give the orders that Jareth could not.

The thought that the man she loved was dead never truly entered her head, he was too strong… she needed him too much. Had she allowed the fear to enter her heart, she would have been incapacitated by it, and this was simply unacceptable. The Underground needed its Queen.

Gathering her nerve she moved to the battlefield, approaching her own troops first.

"Soldiers of the Underground, brave warriors all. The battle is won, the Underground has been kept safe by your efforts."

She could hear the murmured wonderings of why she was there instead of their King and knew she had to address it.

"Our King was gravely wounded in battle and taken to the safety of the castle to be treated. More than that I cannot tell you as I quite honestly do not know."

The murmuring increased as her army debated the condition of their King. Sarah felt the fear begin to creep back but rallied her strength and continued speaking.

"The war is ended. With the command of High Ruler in the stead of our injured King, I release you all from duty. You are free to return to your homes or remain in the Goblin Castle, whatever be your wish."

"But my dearest Queen, what of the prisoners." A lone voice called out from the edge of the assembled crowd. Sarah took a moment to think before answering, glancing around the remnants of Gerard army, bound and on their knees.

"There are no prisoners. Everyone is free to return to their homes."

There were grumblings of unease but Sarah had done the only thing she could. Gerard still had Toby, she would not risk him being hurt in a desperate attempt by Gerard to get his men back.

For a long while there was very little movement on the battlefield. The Underground soldiers were still overwhelmed by the sudden victory, Gerard's army suspected their freedom may be a trick and didn't dare rise, and the Creatures of the land of Arnagoth remained on their knees awaiting Sarah's command. Sarah felt a need to speak, to ease their worries, urge them on their way, desperate to have movement, a conclusion to these events so she could hurry back to Jareth, but she knew that any haste on her part would only serve to worry her subjects and slow things down further. With an immense strength of will she remained still, waiting seemingly patiently for things to progress.

Eventually the stillness broke, her soldiers began scouring the battlefield for their wounded, taking them back to the castle for healing. Others began collecting the dead bodies for burial beneath the Underground as a third group gathered weapons and began lashing the long swords and spears together to provide rudimentary stretchers to carry the dead away. Work was slow, the grief was beginning to set in as Goblins, Fae, Elementals and Animalanis alike began to realize the extent of the fatalities. War was never pleasant, but sometimes it was necessary. None of that mattered now, all that mattered was that the Underground was safe, a small comfort in the face of so much loss.

It was a long time before the enemies began moving, collecting their own dead and wounded, but none daring the leave the battlefield. Sarah watched their slow, weary movements, eventually walking over to a seeming leader of the army. She felt the fear in him rise as he noticed her approached, and then remained silent for a few seconds after she reached him, feeling his apprehension grow.

"You will take this message directly to Gerard." She paused long enough for the soldier to nod. "I could have taken the lives of every one of his men, yet I set them free. Upon your return he will IMMEDIATELY release my brother back into my care."

At this point she drew in close so her face was mere inches from the soldiers. "If he does not I shall unleash the full fury of the Creatures upon his Kingdom. I have power enough to split the seas and give them full access to lay waste to him and all his people. If he so much as lays a hand on Toby I will grind Arnagoth into oblivion and visit such torture upon him as to make him regret the day he took his first breath. See the power in my eyes and make sure he heeds this warning or your life and the lives of everybody you've ever known will end in an instant. I will have my brother back whole and unharmed by sunset, or you will all pay the price for his injury."

The menace in Sarah was palpable and she could not resist a small smile of victory as she watched the soldier flee. The rose sphere she threw at his back as he retreated made sure he would instil the same fear in Gerard as she had instilled in him. Sarah knew who held the strings guiding Gerard, knew he feared his mistress and would not dare go against her, but his mistress would soon be removed from the game and all Gerard would be left with was the fear of what would happen if he did not return Toby as instructed.

It wasn't long before the remnants of Gerard's army had left and her own troops were heading back to the Labyrinth after another reassurance from her that they were free to return to their homes. She was finally left with the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth.

"Great Creatures, your part in this war is over, you may go back to your lands."

The voice that answered her was deep and powerful, it reminded her of rocks, of the earth, powerful forces of nature.

"My Lady, we are at your command, to be bound to another's will is to be weak, to be weak is to have no honour, you gave us our honour back. We are bound to you more strongly than to her, but we will not be ruled by you. However, our honour demands we repay you for its return, what would you have us do?"

Once again Sarah felt an immense rush of power, whatever this bond was, it was strong. And dangerous.

"I thank you for your offer and ask that I may retain it until I find need of it. I may need you again in this war, or I may need you years in the future. For now you may return home, I will call when I need you."

There were no more words, the Creatures simply left, but Sarah knew, should she or the Underground ever need them, they would be there in an instant. They were not kind, they were still the vicious animals they'd always been, but they had honour, Sarah trusted in that. As long as they were in Sarah's debt, the Underground was safe from the Creatures.

Eventually the battlefield was cleared. Only Sarah and three others remained on the battlefield. They had given Sarah the space she needed to carry out her duties as queen, but now they could wait no longer and approached her.

"My queen." Hoggle said, dropping to his knees. Ludo and Sir Didymus followed suit immediately.

Sarah could no longer control her tears. "My friends, you must never bow to me. What you have done for the Underground raises you up in honour far higher than me."

With that she dropped to her knees, embracing her friends, the tears flowing freely. The emotions of the last few days finally hitting her. So many had died, those she knew, and those she didn't, she cried for them all. She cried for a land that, although saved from the horror of Gerard's rule, would never truly be the same again. Too much had been lost in the fight. She cried for Toby, even though she knew no harm would come to him now, she couldn't bear the thought of what may have happened to him up until this point. Most of all she cried for something she would not name, but which her friends demanded of her anyway.

"Is he alive?" Hoggle's voice was quiet, but the question was clear. When Sarah pulled back and looked at her friends, she saw the same fear she felt reflected in their eyes. They loved their King, they had seen him fall, yet knew not his fate. Although it scared Sarah more than anything, she knew the time had come. She was a Queen, she could not be cowardly, not at a time like this. This war was still not over, but before she could end it, she had to know if the man she loved was still alive.


	41. Chapter 41

There were no celebrations when Sarah returned to the castle. The war was over but the work of the healers continued. Those not injured in the fighting were helping where they could, fetching water and medical supplies, moving the wounded that had been tended to into their homes or to rest in the bedrooms of the castle.

When Sarah and her friends appeared in the throne room everyone stopped what they were doing momentarily, bowing, curtsying or nodding their heads to their queen before continuing their work. Yet Sarah only had eyes for on person, and he was not present. Her breath caught in her throat as she thought of what his absence might signify. Her fear was not erased by the sight of Kara rushing over to her with a stricken look on her face.

"He's in his bedroom."

Kara started to say more but Sarah didn't wait to hear it. She transported herself to the royal bedroom, not bothering to bring Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus with her. This was something she needed to do alone. Why was it that the hardest task are always those you have to do alone?

When she first entered the room she could not see Jareth. All she saw was Carnice sat on the floor, propped up against the bed. Even from across the room Sarah could see Carnice's eyes were closed, her face pale as death. Fearing for her friend, fearing even more what this meant for Jareth, Sarah rushed over to Carnice. Her breathing was shallow, and her skin cold to the touch, nevertheless, Carnice stirred as Sarah took her hand. Her eyes opened halfway and she managed a ghost of a smile as she focused on Sarah.

"Carnice, what happened?" Sarah asked.

"Magic. There was a spell on the blade that pierced his heart. It took all I had to reverse its effects. It was draining the life out of him much faster than the blood that was leaving his body." Her voice was growing fainter, her eyes closed again. "I removed the spell, but didn't have much left in me for healing." Her final words before she slipped into unconsciousness were: "I did all I could."

Immediately Sarah summoned Mealikka, one of the Fae women, knowing that only a Fae would know how to help Carnice, if indeed there was anything anyone could do to help. Magic was as much a part of a Fae as was their blood, their skin, their vital organs. A Fae could not live without their magic, Sarah prayed there was enough magic left in Carnice to keep her alive.

After Mealikka left with Carnice, Sarah was left with no more distractions. Nothing more could get in the way, allow her to put off the inevitable. She stood facing the door, having watched Mealikka carry Carnice out. Her back was to the bed where she knew Jareth lay. She wanted to run screaming from the room, Carnice's last words had increased her fear to breaking point. Now, with nothing more that needed her attention, Sarah finally began to accept that she may lose the man she loved. The tears filled her eyes and her knees felt too weak to hold her, but she would not give in. After all she had been through, all she had endured, she would not fall now.

Steeling herself she turned to face the bed, and still she was not prepared for the sight that met her eyes. His skin was even paler than Carnice's had been, testament to the amount of blood he had lost. His eyes, closed in the visage of sleep, were sunken hollows, stark shadows against his pale face. There was a stillness to him that was unnatural, a calm to his face that spoke of inner peace. Yet as Sarah moved closer, she saw, to her disbelief, a slight movement of his chest. A rise and fall almost undetectable, but present nonetheless. Hope rose in Sarah's heart. He wasn't dead, not yet at least. The tears threatened again, but Sarah fought them back. This was not the time, Jareth needed her.

Sarah sat on the bed beside Jareth, placing one hand on his heart and one hand on his head. It still amazed her just how easy it was to use magic, despite the relatively short time she had possessed it. She quickly examined Jareth using her magic. She could feel the faint beat of his heart beneath her right hand, feel the deep, ugly wound and the traces of the spell that had almost drained the life out of him. Carnice had done an amazing job, but at a great cost to herself. Although weakened by her own magic use, Sarah was still feeling the power surge from her bonds with the Creatures. She easily dispelled the last remnants of the spell, recognizing its source as the foul traitor behind this whole war. The anger insider her began to grow once more, that _she_ could do this to the Underground, to Jareth…

Sarah felt Jareth twitch beneath her hands, but she knew it was simply a reflex to the healing that her magic was inducing. Jareth's eyes remained closed, his skin pale, but his breathing deepened, his heart beat more rapidly.

She could feel herself growing tired, for the second time that day she was pouring her magic into healing, and despite the influx of power she had received, her energy wasn't limitless. Yet every time she went to stop, she'd look at Jareth's face, see the slight improvement in his colour, or feel a muscle twitch, and she knew she had to give a bit more, just a bit longer. Suddenly she felt a hand on her arm, calm, yet firm.

"No my Lady." Hoggle said as he slowly pulled her arm off Jareth's chest.

"Killing yourself through loss of magic will not help him. Nor your child."

As Hoggle spoke these words Sarah slowly removed her other hand from Jareth's head, and the tears she'd held back for so long poured forth. Jareth was not out of the woods yet, Gerard still had Toby, she had no idea whether the child inside her had survived the transition between Aboveground and Below, and even though the war was over, they still had one more enemy to face.

Sarah didn't know how long she cried, but always she was aware of Hoggle's comforting presence at her side, until eventually, exhausted, she slept.


	42. Chapter 42

Sarah awoke slowly, fearful of what awaited her once she opened her eyes. Drifting somewhere between asleep and awake, she knew consciousness would bring pain, so she fought it as long as she could. Eventually though the memories began to creep into her mind and she could no longer resist waking. She opened her eyes, fearing what she would see, but the room was silent, empty. No, not empty. She lay on her own bed, a bed she had never slept in up until now. Sitting up she saw Mandana sitting by the window, rolling bandages. Sarah smiled. Throughout everything, Mandana had been there for her, quietly waiting in the background, doing all she could to help. Since Sarah's return from Aboveground she hadn't had much time to spend with her friend, something she deeply regretted. It was only as Sarah moved to get out of the bed that Mandana realized she was awake and turned from the window to look at her. Sarah saw the tears on her cheeks immediately and her heart stopped.

"Jareth…" She whispered

"Now don't you's be worrying about him Sarah. He's a strong one, an with all the help you and Carnice 'av given 'im, well I reckon he's gonna be all right now. But you, you's just not takin' proper care of yourself! First you travels back 'ere, then you just don't rest properly at all, then you goes out and gets involved in that damn war and now you go and use all that magic to heal the King! Now don't you think that I don't appreciate it all, 'cos I do, but you's gotta start takin' better care of yourself. I aint doing this again, watching you all night, praying you's gonna wake in the morning. There's been too much death already and I don't plan on losin' either you or him now that this wars over, so just you listen to me from now on, ya hear?"

Sarah couldn't help but smile at her friend. Though her tone was harsh, the tears in her eyes showed of her deep feeling for Sarah. But she was wrong, this war wasn't over. Sarah knew without asking that Toby had not been returned yet, despite Sarah's threats. Gerard was more scared of_ her_ than he was of Sarah. That would all change though, and soon. Sarah had already lost too much time, she had to act quickly, but not before checking on Jareth.

Sarah got out of bed, hugging Mandana on her way into Jareth's bedroom, and promising the maid that she was fine and would eat a full meal as soon as she'd made sure Jareth was okay. She could still hear Mandana complaining as she entered the main bedroom, but the sight of Jareth took the smile off her face. He looked better than she remembered, but he was still too pale, his breathing still too shallow. She checked the wound and saw it had started to heal, yet she knew now there was nothing more she could do. Magic could only take healing so far, the body had to do the rest. As awful as it felt, Sarah knew she had to let nature run its course. That didn't mean she had nothing to do however, there was still a Kingdom to run.

Sarah made her way to the throne room, relieved to find it empty of all patients, and found out from Kara that all the wounded had been treated throughout the night and either moved to their homes or to the guest rooms in the castle to recover. Thanking her friend, Sarah used her rose spheres to summon those she needed to a strategy meeting in the throne room at noon. What she planned to do would not be easy, she would need help, and the support of those around her to achieve true victory.

There were still a few hours to go before the meeting began, and Sarah had a few tasks she had to see to before that. First she went to find her friends, those closest to her. She'd already seen Kara and Mandana, but there were three others she needed to thank. She found them in the gardens behind the castle. With Carnice still ill, Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Didymus had taken over the duties of looking after the children, with the help of a few of the Fae women of course. Although, as Sarah watched them, it looked like her friends were causing the Fae more trouble than the children. Two of the children had apparently decided Hoggle would make a good climbing frame and he was having trouble disengaging them from himself without injuring either them, or him, in the process. Ludo was slowly hobbling around the play area, two children holding onto his legs, being dragged along behind him. Sarah knew that during the war, any child that was wished away by someone who did truly love them was not taken, those wished away by people who did not deserve them, were brought to the castle, without the wisher being given a chance to win them back. Times were too dire to worry about playing fair, the Labyrinth knew which children to take and which to leave, clearly the two new children were a lot better off here than they had been Aboveground.

Sir Didymus meanwhile was trying to instruct the youngest in matters of the honour of knights, but the sweet little six month old child was more interested in chewing on his stick than listening to what he had to say. Sir Didymus in turn found this highly insulting and was in the process of challenging the little girl to duel when he got within hitting distance of the stick and found himself trying to defend his body, as well as his honour, from the playful violence of a baby who had clearly had too much sugar lately.

Sarah's giggle gave away her presence to her friends, and although it took a few minutes, and some help from the women to remove the children, Sarah soon found herself embraced from all sides, and heights, by her friends. They bombarded her with a million questions, most of which she couldn't answer. She was okay herself, Jareth seemed stable but she honestly couldn't say if he'd recover, Carnice she hadn't seen yet, so she couldn't comment. No she didn't know how she'd managed to recover Jareth from the battlefield without actually being there. Hoggle said that he'd suddenly seen a ghostly visage of her lean over Jareth, put her arms around him, then both the ghost and the King disappeared. Neither could Sarah really explain how she'd stopped the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth. She explained how she'd poured her magic into the bonds that tied them to the war, over-loaded them somehow, and in return, received a massive surge of power, but that was all she knew.

"Fae bound…" Hoggle muttered.

"What was that?" Sarah asked, curious as to what the term meant.

"Well, er, sounds like them Creatures were Fae touched. It's sort of where a Fae gives them a bit of their power, an' they give a bit back, an' it binds together, sometimes the Fae can control 'em through it. But you broke it, and from what you said that they said, 'bout you not forcin' them to serve ya, that they bound themselves to ya properly. Fae bound. There's a lot more power involved, an' with that many Creatures… no wonder it knocked you out. But they're yours now, you can command 'em to do what ya want. You can be Fae touched against yer will, but not Fae bound, makes it so much stronger."

Sarah didn't quite know how to respond to that, but knowing that the Creatures had spoken the truth, they would be at her command until they had repaid their debt, made her feel better. They were a formidable army, who knew when she might need them…

She spent about an hour with her friends, just talking, spending some quality time with them, playing with the children. It had been far too long since she'd done this. Well except for Hoggle of course, she'd spent plenty of time with him when he'd been in the form of Mark, Aboveground, even though she hadn't known it was him. But it was nice to just relax, forget about everything, and just enjoy spending time with her friends. All too soon it was time to leave though; Sarah had a lot more to do that day.

She took her leave of her friends and headed off in search of Lord Lenea and found him in the space that used to be the Goblin City. All around him there was activity; hundreds upon hundreds of Goblins were building new houses, carrying materials, consulting each other on plans for the new city. Although from what Sarah could see the plans were identical to that of the old city. Not that it actually mattered as the builders weren't paying one bit of attention to the plans, so who knew what the city would end up like in reality. Sarah had a feeling there were going to be more than a few lost Goblins in the next few days.

"Lord Lenea, may I speak with you?" Sarah asked.

Lord Lenea turned, smiling as he saw the newest member of the Faerie clan.

"My dear Sarah, you may speak with me any time you wish, I am forever at your service."

Sarah couldn't help smile in return. It truly felt like the Faeries were her family, it made her heart soar to have been accepted so completely by so many. In the end she couldn't resist the urge and threw her arms around Lord Lenea, happy to feel him hug her back.

"I'm sorry, that was quite un-Queen like of me." Sarah apologised once she let go.

"Never be sorry for being who you truly are. We cannot be queens all the time after all."

Once again Sarah smiled, before turning sombre.

"Lord Lenea, the reason I sought you out was to ask you a question. It was your arrival, along with the other Faeries that turned the war in our favour. Yet, when you left in preparation of the wedding, you predicted you'd be back much earlier than you actually were. What happened?"

Her tone was not accusatory, merely questioning. She sensed something had happened to the Faeries during their absence, and Lord Lenea's face at her enquiry confirmed it.

"Dearest Sarah, it is customary before a Faerie wedding, that all the Faeries, other than the bride or bridegroom, retreat beyond the boundaries of the Underground. There is a sacred place to us, a place of calm, where we can clear our minds for the coming joining. A scrying pool lies in the middle of this place, and in it, we are able to see a glimpse of the couple's future. Most times, the pool shows happiness, love, children, a successful marriage. Yet every so often, the pool warns us of coming danger. In your case the danger was obvious, but there was something more. Always in the visions there were shadows. A shadow within your heart, testament to the pain of your attack. A slim shadow within the heart of Jareth which grew to consume him. A shadow behind the attacking army, one linked to Gerard, to the Creatures… to Jareth. With each scrying, the vision grew clearer, more details were shown. This took a long time, but we dared not leave until we had deciphered it, fearing what a lack of knowledge could do. It seems however that the powers of the pool are not limitless. The shadow within Jareth is clear now; he was stabbed, had Carnice not destroyed the spell, it would have consumed him, just as the shadow did and he would have died. As for the shadow behind the enemy… I see in your eyes you know what we found."

"Yes," Sarah answered "the one behind the war, the one who caused all this."

"That shadow still exists, though no longer linked to the army or to Gerard, she has forsaken him, she is still linked to Jareth. You know of who I speak."

Sarah could only nod in response.

"We will help you in your task, but it is you who must expose her. You have the strength within you to do this."

Sarah didn't feel strong, she felt weak, helpless. Jareth still lay near death, she still hadn't seen Carnice, but she didn't hold out much hope, Gerard still had Toby… She felt weary, lost, but she knew there was hope. Her friends believed in her, she knew she would always have them by her side, to lend her strength in the dark times. Forcing a weak smile onto her face, Sarah asked the question that had been playing on her mind all the while Lord Lenea spoke of the scrying pool.

"Was that all the pool showed, shadows?"

The smile on Faery Lord's face returned.

"Sarah, it is not for any of us to know our future, which is why you were not permitted to come with us. All I shall say is this, for every shadow there was a light, the lights within you and Jareth were the strongest. Fear not the future, for it will be a happy one."

Sarah took more strength from the last sentence than from anything else that day. Once again she hugged Lord Lenea before hurrying off to find another of her friends.

**A/N Two chapters in two days, aren't I nice? :)**

**It may be a few days before I update again, the long Easter weekend is here and ****I'm taking full advantage of it by visiting a few friends, but I promise to update as soon as I can.**

**Happy Easter and take care x**


	43. Chapter 43

Upon entering Carnice's room she was overjoyed to find her friend sitting up in bed eating soup. She was still pale, but not nearly so much as last night, and she was awake now which was a good sign. And talking too. Sarah tried to keep the topics light and happy, but she could see the worry in Carnice's eyes, and knew it was reflected in her own. It wasn't long before Carnice reached out and placed her hand over Sarah's.

"It's okay. Go to him."

Sarah smiled in return, hugging the Fae before running off down the corridor, back to Jareth's room. There wasn't much change in him from when she'd left. Mandana was there, watching over him, but he was still unconscious. Sarah sat with him a while, just talking to him, holding his hands. She was constantly fighting back the tears, but she wouldn't break down again, she had to be strong now. After a brief argument with Mandana, Sarah gave in and forced a scant meal down her, then fought the urge to bring it straight back up. Food and stress do not go well together, but Mandana was right, she needed her strength for the fight ahead.

Before she knew it, it was almost noon and Sarah had to hurry back to the throne room for the meeting, her nerves screaming with every step. She wasn't sure she was strong enough for this, the last few days had really taken their toll. All she wanted to do was go and hide in her room and pretend none of this was happening. But it was happening, it was real, and with Jareth injured, it was down to her to do something about it. Determination quickened her steps. As she walked into the throne room, no one there could see what was going on in her mind, there was no worry, no fear, no sorrow on her face. Her shoulders were back, her head was held high, and as she sat on the main throne, in the place of her King, everyone could see she was the rightful one to rule in his stead while he recovered.

Sarah looked at the faces of those gathered in front of her, and fear danced in her heart. Once before, her actions had set into motion a terrible chain of events. She'd taken Gerard's slaves and he'd declared war. Only now Sarah knew he was not the one behind the war. Gerard's army was defeated, he had nothing left with which to threaten the Underground, but he still had Toby, he could still threaten Sarah. It was time to get Toby back.

"Honoured guests, I bid you take a seat." The assembly stopped bowing and curtsying, and sat in the chairs Sarah had created for them. The chairs were arranged in a circle. To Sarah's right sat Parthenon and Saliene. To her left were Trea, Sarnoth, Markon and Aladrea. Lord Lenea completed the circle.

"Yesterday the Underground gained a great victory. Gerard's army was vanquished. The Creatures are now our allies. But there is yet one more enemy left to defeat."

There was an eerie stillness to her audience, they showed no emotion at her bold statement, yet Sarah knew she had their full attention. Satisfied, she continued.

"It seems Gerard was not the one behind this war, he was merely a puppet. The Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth were forced into service by one with great power. This being bound them against their will, and in breaking these bonds, I was able to glimpse the person behind them. It was this person who manipulated Gerard into demanding my death and declaring war on the Goblin Kingdom. It was this person who tried, multiple times, to kill me whilst I was Aboveground, who kidnapped my brother and who I suspect also ordered the original attack on me that led to my return to the Underground four months ago. It was this person, this woman, who has been the cause of the deaths of thousands of Underground subjects, created this strife, sown terror into the hearts of all who love this beautiful land. Gerard is defeated, once this woman is removed he will remain in the Caves for the rest of his days, alone and harmless, tormented by memories of all he had, and will never have again. I will not have more bloodshed, nor will I take revenge, except to seal him forever within those Caves so he can do more harm. But the woman behind him must be stopped, before she does any more harm."

The silence around her reigned on, her audience unmoving yet completely attentive.

"What makes this all the more worrying, is that this woman is known to us, to all of us. She is a resident of the Underground, more than just a resident. She is a woman of considerable power, and her station makes her treachery all the worse. When I broke the bonds through which she bound the Creatures to this war I saw her, but I am not the only one. Upon visiting the scrying pond to glimpse mine and Jareth's future, the Faeries also saw the woman behind this war. If you would doubt my word, ex human that I am" Sarah spoke the last few words with anger in her eyes, daring anyone to make a single derogatory comment about humans, but her audience remained silent. "You would not dare challenge the word of the Lord of the Faeries."

She paused, allowing the words to sink in. She was deliberately drawing the speech out, hoping some of her audience would come to the right conclusion on their own. When she continued her voice was softer, but no less powerful than before.

"I ask of you this, just as the subjects of the Underground banded together to beat Gerard's army, so we, the leaders of the Underground, must join forces to destroy the one who still threatens us. Will you help me?"

There were no arguments. She had proved herself a worthy Queen, even to her most vehement opponents. They would follow her without any qualms from now on. As a one, the heads of the circle nodded. All but one. The shock registered on Aladrea's face, that even Trea now supported Sarah. All eyes turned to Aladrea, all aware that even now she would not submit to Sarah.

"You would assist her?" Aladrea asked of Trea, her voice almost a scream. "You would help that mortal b…"

She was not allowed to finish the insult as her eldest brother, the one she had admired and sought to imitate her whole life, interrupted her.

"Yes Aladrea, I would. She is no mortal, she is our Queen, a Faerie. She has earned our loyalty. Without her the Underground would be in ruins right now. I watched the war, even with the Faeries it was hopeless. The Creatures were too many and too strong. Lady Sarah has saved us all." The admiration in his voice was clear. Aladrea started at him in shock before her face contorted into a mask of rage. She leapt to her feet, glowering down at her brother in anger.

"Saved us? She caused this war! If she had never come to the Underground, none of this would have happened! She's pathetic, a mortal, a plague on the Underground, she…"

Once again she was cut off by her eldest brother as she stood and moved to face her.

"It appears that you have failed to notice that you no longer have the support of anyone in this room. We were wrong Aladrea. Sarah has shown us that. Yet you fail to see it, even now. Your hatred of mortals has blinded you. It blinded me too, to many things…" Trea's face grew sorrowful, his voice quiet as he spoke the last few words. Yet he was silent for less than a second before his face hardened once more. The anger began to melt from Aladrea's face, fear blossomed in his eyes.

"For a long time I believed that your love of the Underground was more powerful than your hatred of mortals. I see now I was wrong. Even as a child you were jealous of Jareth. Though you were close, you resented that an ex-mortal could become royalty. As you grew, so did your resentment. You hated our father for giving the rule of the Goblins to Jareth, when rightfully, it should have been yours. Yet you loved our brother, despite all that, and your love for him kept you in check. But then Sarah arrived." At this Trea turned to Sarah and she walked over to stand by his side.

"Your hatred of her grew out of all proportion. Jealous that she might one day return and take her place on the throne of the Goblin Kingdom, a mortal becoming a queen whilst you remained royalty in name only. It became too much. Anger turned to madness. You had her attacked in an attempt to eliminate her completely."

Aladrea's face went pale, her eyes wide with fear.

"But you failed, she returned here anyway, angering you all the more. You used her actions in Gerard's Kingdom to manipulate your lover into declaring war. Oh yes Aladrea, I know about you two. I suspected you were behind this war from the start, but I could not believe my own sister would endanger the Underground so completely. I was a fool, but no more. You tried again to kill Sarah when she returned Aboveground, kidnapped her brother and forced the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth into this war. All to get rid of Sarah. So much trouble over one woman…"

There was silence for a long time after Trea finished speaking. Saliene and Parthenon seemed to have come to realise the truth just as Trea had during Sarah's speech. Their faces were full of sorrow, as they finally admitted the evil their daughter had done. Lord Lenea's face showed no emotion, but the faces Sarnoth and Markon were full of shock. They would never have expected that a princess of the underground, their own sister, could cause so much destruction to her homeland. To each and every one of its subjects, the Underground was a sacred place. It was this love of the land that had caused them to join their forces in one united army, to risk death and destruction to save that which they loved. That so many had died because of one their family shocked them completely.

Aladrea stood staring at those around her in surprise. Never had she dreamed that her family would discover her treachery, though she did not see it as such herself. She was still reeling from the sudden defeat. Once Sarah had broken the bonds with the creatures, all the power Aladrea had siphoned off them disappeared. She had slipped into unconsciousness and had awoken the next day feeling drained. She hadn't even had the energy to transport herself to Gerard in order to wreak revenge on Sarah's brat of a little brother. She'd had to use the magic of the summons just to get herself to the castle from her vantage point on the border of the goblin Kingdom where she had been watching the war, directing the Creatures to her will, and finally, placing the spell upon the blade that pierced Jareth. All her love for her brother was gone now, consumed by the madness that had taken over her mind. To her, Jareth was the traitor, for handing over the Kingdom that should rightfully have been hers, to a weak snivelling mortal. Jareth had grown up as Fae, proved himself as King, but Sarah was nothing in Aladrea's eyes. A mortal blessed with powers well beyond what she deserved. Jealousy and madness swirled within Aladrea, no logic could be attributed to the hatred she felt towards Sarah. Only that Sarah had the respect of everyone that she cared about, whereas Aladrea received only pity and scorn. Sarah was destined to be High Queen of the Underground once she married Jareth. Aladrea remained without a Kingdom despite being a rightful royal heir. She did not see that she was unfit to be a queen, she had no love for the Underground or its subjects, no compassion, she would have been a cruel Queen. It was for this reason that her father had never bestowed upon her any lands to rule. Aladrea saw none of this. She blamed all her failings on Sarah, and the madness had grown until her delusions of conspiracy included Jareth and she had desired his death too. She had failed, in this and in everything. And now her whole family had turned on her.

The anger returned, and as it did Aladrea began drawing power into herself from the very fabric of the Labyrinth. With enough power she could destroy the Castle and everyone in it. She didn't even care that she would perish herself, it would be worth it, to know that Sarah would die.

The air crackled around her, power infused the atmosphere and Aladrea's eyes went pure black. Sarah fell to the floor in agony. She was Queen of the Labyrinth in all but name, she shared a bond with the land so strong that in drawing power from the Labyrinth, Aladrea was drawing it from Sarah as well. Sarah was helpless, it was impossible to use her magic to counter Aladrea when she was in so much pain. The others in the room wordlessly gathered in a circle around Aladrea and attempted to create a barrier around her to prevent her taking in any more power, but the flow was too quick, too much. This was the raw, natural power of the land, and as Aladrea drew it into herself, it punched through any barriers the others could put up like they were tissue paper.

Cracks began to appear in the walls, large chunks of stone fell from the ceiling, smashing to the floor and causing more damage where they fell. Chaos erupted within the castle as those outside the throne room saw the damage, felt the magic in the air, but had no idea as to its cause. They feared the consequences of the magic and tried to flee, but the roof above the door to the castle came crashing down, blocking the exit and trapping everyone inside.

Parthenon and Saliene tried reasoning with their daughter whilst simultaneously working with the others trying to conjure any counter spell they could, but nothing worked. Aladrea's madness was complete, she wanted nothing other than the total destruction of everything around her and the power she was drawing on was too strong to be stopped.

But the power of the land cannot be stolen. To be truly controlled it must be freely given. What Aladrea was attempting to do was exactly what Sarah had done in the Caves of Arnagoth. Yet in the Caves, the land had given its power to Sarah, as had the Labyrinth. Aladrea was trying to take this power. Such was a violation of the very fabric of the Underground and it would not be borne by those powers higher than even the Fae, the primal, earthy powers of nature.

In a moment, too quick to be seen by any present in the throne room, the flow of magic was reversed. Aladrea's eyes snapped back into colour and her breathing ceased as the power was drained out of her, faster than she had been drawing it in only seconds ago.

The pain within Sarah ceased, her strength returned instantly as the Labyrinth gave back that which was taken from her. Sarah felt a bond with the Labyrinth stronger than she had ever felt before. She could feel its anger towards Aladrea, mirroring her own. Sarah reached out her hand, joining herself to the flow of power from Aladrea. She saw her thoughts, felt the madness in the woman who would have been her sister-in-law. She saw what hatred had done to her and felt pity. Aladrea had been consumed by her hatred, and it had led her to destroy everything she had. Sarah felt sorrow for the woman she could have been if she'd had the power to overcome her hatred. But she had made her choice, she was lost to them now.

With a tear in her eyes, Sarah withdrew her hand, removing herself from the flow of power. She watched as Aladrea grew paler, her face becoming sunken, her eyes full of horror. It was over in less than a minute. Aladrea sank to the floor, lying on a pile of rubble, a bier to her evil deeds. Sarah heard the sound of weeping, surprised to find herself crying along with Saliene. The men stood strong, but sorrow masked their faces. They had loved Aladrea, her betrayal had cut them deep, her loss was a profound on to them. Yet none of them had moved to prevent her death. Her madness was too far gone, no matter what they would have done, she could never have come back. She was too much of a danger, to the Underground, to Sarah. She would never have stopped. Her death was kinder than an eternity in chains.


	44. Chapter 44

As Sarah and the others in the room gazed down on the fallen Fae, Aladrea's body began to fade, growing translucent before finally disappearing altogether. Sarah released a sigh of relief, despite her sorrow. It was over. Aladrea was gone, Gerard would release Toby, peace would reign once again. But Sarah knew she was wrong, it wasn't completely over. There were still a few loose ends to be tied up.

A sound at the entrance to the throne room alerted those within to the presence of another. Sarah turned and watched in disbelief as a ghost of Jareth walked towards her. He was deathly pale and winced with every step as the wound in his chest caused him pain. Sarah truly thought he was a ghost as he got closer, not only because of his paleness, but because he was also slightly transparent, testament to just how close to death he had been. But when he touched her, laid his hand gently on her cheek, she knew he was real. No ghost could have the presence Jareth had, no ghost could affect her the way a simple caress to the cheek by the hand of the man she loved could. Sarah didn't know how he'd got the strength to walk here, she didn't care. She only knew that she loved him, and he was alive. Unable to contain herself any longer, Sarah threw her arms around her King and wept for joy. He held her as tight as his weakened muscles would allow and Sarah felt, for the first time since returning to the Underground, the true stirring of life within her. The happiness that filled her heart was almost too much. She placed Jareth's hand over the slight swell of her stomach, and although he couldn't possibly feel it, he knew what the gesture meant. Neither of them knew how it was possible, although Sarah suspected the magic of the Labyrinth had something to do with it, but their baby had survived the transition between Aboveground and Underground.

Jareth held onto her even tighter after that, and when he finally let go, they found themselves alone. The others had left at some point after Jareth had arrived, clearly sensing the couple needed some time alone. Sarah and Jareth spent a long time talking after that. Sarah explained everything that had happened after Jareth had been injured. When she revealed Aladrea's treachery, impossibly Jareth turned slightly paler. He had arrived in the throne room in time to watch her die, so he had suspected the truth, but to hear it put into words affected him more than Sarah would have imagined. Then again, all Sarah had even seen was the vicious side of Aladrea, Jareth had grown up with her. She was his sister, he'd seen the kind, loving person she'd been as a child. He'd loved his sister, losing her was a terrible blow.

Once Sarah had explained all that had happened to her, Jareth told how he'd woken up to find Mandana hovering over him. She'd tried to keep him in his bed but he'd felt Sarah was in trouble, just as she had when he was injured, and knew he had to find her. Just walking in his present state was exhausting though and the use of magic was impossible, it had taken a long time for him to traverse the distance between his bedroom and the throne room, and he'd arrived just in time to see Aladrea fall and then fade away.

For a while afterwards they sat in silence, trying to adjust to the new peace. So much had happened in so short a time, it was going to be hard to get used to, but as Sarah looked into Jareth's eyes, she knew their future would be a happy one. Still, there was one last thing she needed to do.

As she stood up and helped Jareth to his feet however, she knew she would have to do it alone. He was still terribly weak. Before he could protest, Sarah had transported him back to his bed, and although he did his best to defy her and prove he wasn't as weak as she thought, within minutes he was fast asleep. Sarah bade Mandana watch over him once more before she went into her own room to wash and change. When she walked out half an hour later wearing black leather trousers with a fitted black satin top, there were no protests from Mandana. Sarah's hair fell in a dark silken waterfall, crowned by a small gold circlet, and the barest smudge of Kohl lined her eyes. She looked fearsome, and regal. A Queen to strike terror into the heart of her enemies, and that's just what she intended to do.

After sharing a conspiratorial grin with Mandana, Sarah transported herself to Gerard's throne room. Unsurprisingly, she found it empty. The whole place seemed to be deserted. No doubt the survivors of the war had fled to other lands in fear of their King's reaction to a second failure. Sarah didn't blame them, Gerard had lost a lot of subjects to the Underground, both those who had died in the war and those who had followed Sarah to the Labyrinth. The war was lost, no doubt Gerard would not have been kind to any soldiers that returned. Summoning a crystal to show her where Gerard was, Sarah then transported herself to his bedroom. The sight of Toby chained in the corner almost brought her to tears, instead she turned the pain into anger and turned it on Gerard. She found him pacing his room, worry and anger alternatively showing on his face. He was muttering to himself under his breath but Sarah couldn't quite hear what he was saying. He was only alerted to her presence when Toby spotted his sister and called out her name. Gerard stopped pacing and turned to face Sarah, panic clear in his eyes. Sarah did not speak to him, already she could feel the power of the Caves begin to pour into her. The magic had chosen her to be its Queen before, and now she had returned it gave itself to her willingly. Sarah kept her wings hidden this time, but her eyes once again lost their colour, white light leaking from them. Still glaring at Gerard, Sarah raised her hand and used her magic to free Toby and send him to the castle at the centre of the Labyrinth. She was left alone with the man who had kept her brother prisoner and caused a war with her people. Even though she knew that Aladrea was behind everything that had happened, Gerard was in no way innocent, he had gone along with Aladrea on his own free will. He had wanted Sarah's death and Jareth's throne just as much as she had.

The anger filled Sarah as the power did. The light began to infuse her skin with a glow, creating a stunning contrast with her dark clothes. She was Fae, and just like Jareth, she had her dark and her light sides. Right now Gerard was seeing the full force of her power and it terrified him, yet angered him at the same time. Before Sarah had arrived, Gerard had been feared by all, now look at him, cowering before a woman, just as he had before Aladrea. No, he would not act like this any longer.

Drawing himself up as tall as he could, he opened his mouth to speak, but Sarah cut him off at the first syllable.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Her words resonated with the power flowing through her.

"Your crimes are already too great, do not anger me further by speaking more foulness. It's over Gerard. You have lost, your subjects are all dead or have fled. Your mistress if also dead, defeated by the Labyrinth in an attempt to destroy it."

At this Gerard closed his mouth not believing what he was hearing. It began to dawn on him that he had seriously underestimated his opponent. This was no mere mortal. She had beaten him at every step, and now Aladrea was dead. Gerard didn't know how Aladrea had died, but he assumed it was Sarah's doing, and the thought terrified him.

"That's right, I know everything. The Creatures are loyal to me now. I have Toby back, Jareth is recovering and soon I shall marry him and become High Queen of the Underground. Things will be as they were always meant to have been, despite your efforts. You, however, will remain here, alone. You may not be Fae but I'd guess you still have about a hundred years of living left."

Gerard's silence was more than enough to confirm her supposition.

"A hundred years is a long time to spend alone, devoid of magic. You will be unable to leave this place, unable to communicate with anyone outside it, unable to even watch the goings on outside the Caves. A seal will be placed around your Kingdom, and I would advise against trying to leave, regardless. The Creatures will always be on the watch for you, and I would not wish on anyone the fate that would befall you should they manage to get their hands on you."

All the while Gerard watched her in silence, he never once tried to fight back, resigned to the fact that Sarah was far too powerful for him to overcome, afraid of the consequences should he anger her more. His mind was filled with despair at the hand that fate had dealt him. He blamed Aladrea, blamed Sarah, blamed Jareth, but never once saw the guilt of his own actions, the crimes he had committed against so many. Sarah saw all of this, knew his own mind would be the severest of punishments. The anger, the hatred, the bitterness and regret would turn him mad in his isolation. With a final warning to Gerard that should he ever seek to do harm against anyone again, she would destroy him, Sarah left. Hovering in the sea outside the entrance to the Caves, she poured all the magic of Arnagoth into a barrier surrounding the Caves. Just as the people of Aboveground lacked magic, so would any who dwelled within the Caves as all the lands magic now existed as a barrier to other worlds. And without any magic, Gerard would be unable to pass through the barrier, or traverse the distance between cave and land if he did. Gerard would spend the rest of his long life alone with his own depraved mind. Sarah could not think of a more fitting punishment.

Sarah did not visit the Creatures of the Land of Arnagoth, she trusted their loyalty and knew they would not appreciate her presence in their homeland until she required their help. Instead she headed straight back to the Labyrinth.


	45. Chapter 45

Sarah had barely been in the throne room a second when she was bowled over by her younger brother. Literally. Unprepared for the seven year old to come flying at her in a violent attempt at a hug, Sarah lost her footing and they both ended up in a heap on the floor laughing. Sarah hugged her brother as hard as she dared, so happy to know he was safe. One look in his eyes told Sarah that other than being afraid, Toby had not been harmed during his stay in the Caves. It was the only reason Gerard was still alive.

"You came for me, I knew you would!" Toby said, hugging her in that lovely but slightly painful way little brothers do.

"Of course I came for you." Sarah replied, gently easing him off her so they could at least sit up. "But why do you not seem at all surprised about any of this?"

"Any of what?" Toby asked, his face the picture of innocence.

"You know what." Sarah said, beginning to think Toby knew more about the Underground than she'd ever imagined. "The Labyrinth, magic…"

The innocent look stayed on Toby's face a whole two seconds before he started giggling suspiciously. Sarah put her hands on her hips and tried to look intimidating, a move which only resulting in both of them giggling. Eventually though Toby simply pointed to the door of the throne room. There, peeking their heads around the door, were Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo.

"You know who they are?" Sarah asked, shocked.

"Yup." Toby answered, grinning manically.

"How?"

"They came to visit me."

Sarah's head shot back around to the doorway, but the heads had disappeared, although Sarah had no doubt they were simply hiding around the corner, still listening to every word. Looking back at her brother Sarah asked;

"How long have they been coming to visit you, and how?"

Toby screwed his face up in an exaggerated visage of thinking. "Erm, about 10 years."

"Toby, you're only seven years old." Sarah said, laughing again.

"Oh yeah. Erm, I don't know how long."

"Well how old were you when they first visited?"

"Don't know."

"Well what was happening at the time? Were you in school, had I left school?"

At this point the smile faded from Toby's face and he hung his head slightly as he answered, his eyes downcast.

"Dad was drinking…"

The answer was so quiet Sarah barely heard it, but the words shot sorrow through her heart. Toby had been so young, Sarah was surprised he remembered when their Dad's drinking had become a problem. She pulled her brother towards her in a hug once more. His childhood had been so marred by his parents problems, Sarah had never realised how much it had affected him until now.

"Dad came home drunk and Mum started argueing with him." Toby continued, quietly. "I ran into your room but you weren't home. I sat in front of your mirror, I just wanted a friend, I didn't want to be alone, so I wished for a friend. And then suddenly Hoggle was there. Next time he brought Didy and Ludo, they helped me when you weren't there."

Despite the sadness she felt at Toby's words, Sarah couldn't help but smile at Toby's pet name for Sir Didymus, somehow she didn't think he'd appreciate it. Nevertheless she realised she had one more thing to thank her friends for. They'd looked after her little brother when she couldn't be there for them.

"Hoggle, Ludo… Didy, get in here." Sarah shouted, laughing when she saw Sir Didymus's face at the use of his nickname, just as she had predicted, he looked rather insulted. "Serves you right for eavesdropping." Sarah said. "Now get over here and give us a hug, all of you."

The sullen look on Sir Didymus's face, and the slightly guilty looks on the faces of the other two were transformed into grins as they all piled into one giant hug.

"I really can't thank you enough for looking after Toby." Sarah said, carefully extracting herself from the pile, allowing Toby to remain with the others. "But why didn't you tell me?"

"You's weren't really talkin' to us back then, you were distant, then ya stopped altogether. We knew why, but we figured Toby here still needed us, but you needed to stay away for a while, so we didn't tell ya. You aint mad are you?" Hoggle replied.

"No I'm not mad, just sorry I acted the way I did, and grateful for all you've done for me."

"My Lady it was our honour, privilege and pleasure. We are your loyal servants and eternal friends." Sir Didymus bowed theatrically as he said this.

Sarah couldn't help it, overcome by emotion she threw herself to her knees and hugged her friends once more. She'd blame it on hormones later, right now all she knew is how much she loved this motley bunch of friends, and from the hugs she was receiving now, she knew they loved her too.

"Right," She said, standing finally. "I'd say it was just about time for some food, we've got lots to celebrate and it's about time we started"

The cheer from Toby reassured her that although they would never be free of the past, the dark times were over and there was a bright future ahead of them. Of course her optimism was forgotten seconds later when she found herself rushing through the castle at top speed after a seven year old on the hunt for food with absolutely no idea where to find it. Eventually, too exhausted to keep running, Sarah used a crystal to transport herself to the kitchens, along with Toby and the three friends who'd been left behind in the throne room, staring in confusion as the two siblings had run out of the room at full speed.

Toby gaped in surprise to find himself in the kitchens, gazing around himself in disbelief before turning to his sister with an excited expression on his face.

"Did you do that?" He asked. "Wow! Do it again! Do it again!"

Sarah simply laughed and told him she'd show him some magic later but right now it was time for food. At once she was surrounded by servants asking how they could help. Sarah was glad to see their smiling faces. It seemed that life was beginning to get back to normal, the staff were back at their posts, guests were relaxing in their rooms. There were still some wounded to care for, but mostly people were resuming their lives as best they could, and all appeared to be happy.

"Well, this little tyke no doubt hasn't eaten in a while, and I dare say it's time for a little celebration, so for Toby, we shall have burgers, chips, chocolate milkshakes, crisps, and anything you can come up with that involves lots of sugar."

Toby let out another cheer before running around the kitchen in erratic circles.

"On second thoughts," Sarah whispered to the nearest chef "any chance you can cut out the sugar but still make it taste sweet?"

"No problem." The chef answered back, grinning slyly. "How about a slight extract of Mernas root too, help calm him down before bedtime?"

"You're a star." Sarah replied, fearing there would be no sleep tonight if Toby didn't calm down rather a lot. "What about you three?" She asked, turning to her friends.

"Those burgers an chips an everythin' sound good ter me!" Hoggle exclaimed, sitting himself down on one of the chairs at what Sarah assumed was a breakfast bar spanning the centre of the room. The other two nodded their agreement and sat down next to him.

"Four portions of junk food it is then please." Sarah told the chef.

"Coming right up. And for yourself?" he replied, adopting the mock waiter stance.

"I'll have porridge if you don't mind. What with all the excitement I'm not sure my stomach could take anything more than that." Sarah said, looking a little queasy.

"Your majesty, forgive me, but shouldn't you be eating something more substantial than porridge in your condition."

"You've just told me you can make sweet things without using sugar, I'm sure you can put everything I need into that porridge and still have it be simple enough to my stomach to cope with." Sarah said with a sly smile.

The chef grinned conspiratorially and went to work. As Sarah sat down she felt a wave of exhaustion pass over her. She had overdone it recently, risked a lot for victory. At the time she knew it was the right thing to do, but the war was over now, she had to calm down, relax, take things easy, or the consequences for her and the baby could be dire. Her three friends saw her fatigue and took it upon themselves to entertain Toby whilst they waited for food. Not that they saw it as a task, they loved the little tyke, and were glad to be able to spend time with him again. The food didn't take long to arrive and Sarah watched with a smile on her face as the boys devoured everything in sight. She ate her porridge slowly, but by the end she was practically asleep.

"Sarah sleeeep."

"Yes Ludo, I do need sleep."

"Do not fear fair maiden, Sir Hoggle, Sir Ludo and I shall watch thy brother, you must sleep, your duties as Queen shall require all your energy tomorrow."

Sarah knew he spoke the truth, and although she was loathe to leave Toby now she had him back, she knew she'd see him tomorrow, and she was having serious trouble trying to keep her eyes open. Kissing her brother and friends she wished them all a good night and then used the last of her energy to transport herself to her room. Both her and Jareth needed their rest, so once again they slept apart, even though it hurt Sarah's heart to do so. She longed to feel his arms around her, holding her, comforting her, but rest was the most important thing right then. As soon as Sarah's head touched the pillow, she was asleep, not even noticing she was still fully clothed.

**A/N So the end is nigh... well sort of ;)**

**Thank you for the reviews! And no one's shouted at me for revealing Aladrea to be the evil mistress which was nice. There's still quite a few loose ends to be tied up, but things are coming to a close. Thank you to everyone who's stuck with the story this long, and I hope you continue to enjoy what's coming.**


	46. Chapter 46

When Sarah awoke the next morning, she realised immediately that she was not alone. Fear shot through her veins momentarily before she opened her eyes to gaze on those of the man she loved. Smiling she drew closer to him, closing her eyes again, relishing his nearness, all other thoughts than her love for him vanishing from her mind.

"Good morning." He spoke, the words soft and kind.

"It really is." She whispered back.

"Now Sarah, you've been asleep for almost thirteen hours, you could at least look at me after I managed to drag myself all the way in here."

Sarah sat up in shock. "Thirteen hours?!"

Jareth laughed before pulling her back down beside him.

"Yes, and from the looks of it, you needed it." He eyed her clothing and tried to hide a small grin. Sarah groaned and laughed simultaneously before magically changing out of her imposing black outfit and into a simple, but regal pale blue dress.

"Does this suit his majesty better?" She replied coyly.

Jareth didn't reply, instead he leaned in and kissed her. The kiss was gentle but hungry. Jareth had woken up a few hours ago and been informed by Mandana of all that had transpired in his absence. He couldn't help but feel proud at all that Sarah had achieved, she was a true Queen, hell she'd probably make a better ruler than him. He'd laughed at the thought, but his happiness went deeper than a mere joke. The war was over, truly over. Though he missed his sister, he knew that was had been done was the right thing, Aladrea was at peace now, she couldn't hurt anyone else, that was the best they could have hoped for. As for Sarah, she had completely incapacitated Gerard, he too was no longer a threat. The realization that it was over had hit Jareth at that moment and such relief had flooded his soul that tears had formed in his eyes. The threat to Sarah, to the Underground was gone. There would be no more demands on his beloved's life, no more threats to his Kingdom, to his subjects. Such a realization was a shock to the system, and even now, looking at the woman he loved, he knew he hadn't completely taken it all in. All he knew was that he loved her and he sent out his silent thanks to all the Gods for allowing them victory, for allowing them to remain together and for allowing their child life. His kiss relayed all these thoughts to Sarah. The bond between them, both emotional and magical, was so strong now that although they couldn't read each other's thoughts, they could often sense any strong feeling from the other. That was how Sarah knew Jareth had been injured, just as that one kiss, told them both of their deep love for each other.

Eventually Jareth pulled away and they spent the next hour talking, not of anything important, in fact they spoke specifically about things that weren't important, relishing in the relaxed atmosphere, glad to be able to simply spend time with each other and not have to worry about the outside world.

Of course the outside world has a tendency to invade such moments, whether it is welcome or not. They had time to hear a shriek and a crash before the door from Jareth's room burst open and Toby ran in, throwing himself onto the bed to hug his sister. Moments later Mandana appeared at the door, hands on her hips looking none too pleased.

"Now Lady Sarah, I know he's yer little brother an' all but I will not 'av him running around like a hyperactive Fiery, crashin' into me and knocking over your breakfast."

Sarah tried to be serious but she couldn't help but smile at her brother's antics.

"Mandana, he's just being a child, you must forgive him. Nevertheless Toby you have to be careful, it's dangerous to run around the castle like that."

Toby managed to look repentant for a whole second before his face broke out in a smile again. "But its not like I'm at home, if I get hurt, you can heal me right? Like you did to him." He said, pointing to Jareth.

It was at that point that Sarah realised just how much better Jareth looked, he still had slight shadows under his eyes, but his colour was almost back to normal and he didn't look to be in any pain at all. Sarah said a little prayer of her own in thanks to whatever Gods were listening for his recovery.

"That's right Toby, but it's not right to depend on magic like that, some wounds cannot be healed. Thankfully most can." Sarah didn't think she could feel any happier but at the sight of Carnice stood in the doorway, looking almost healthy, speaking to Toby like he was her own brother, Sarah's heart almost burst.

"Carnice, you look wonderful." Sarah burst out.

Carnice laughed in reply

"Well I don't know about wonderful, but I certainly feel better, for which I must thank you. If it weren't for your swift actions, I would not have been able to come back from the darkness."

"And if it weren't for you neither would I." Jareth said. "So you have my thanks, more than my thanks. I owe you my life."

There was silence as the adults felt the new bonds between each other that went deeper than friendship. Once again, however, Toby felt the need to make his presence known.

"Sarah, can I have more burgers for breakfast? Ooh ooh and pancakes too? And then can I go out in the Labyrinth, I promise I won't get lost. Can you show me where the Fierys are, oh and bog of stench too!" By this time the hyperactive seven year old was literally bouncing up and down on the bed in his excitement. Sarah couldn't help but laugh, promising her little brother anything if he'd just stay still for a minute. Almost immediately Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Didymus appeared at the door out of breath. Apparently they'd lost Toby about ten seconds after he'd woken up as he'd dashed out of the room in a mad attempt to find his sister. Upon hearing his request, the three companions immediately volunteered to show Toby around the Labyrinth. Sarah was grateful, she knew she had another long, busy day ahead of her. As the group was leaving Sarah asked Hoggle if he wouldn't mind remaining behind.

"Of course, Sarah. What do ya want me for?"

"Hoggle, I know that now the war is over, everyone wants to be happy and get on with their lives, but a lot of people died, and I think we should honour them. I was going to hold a memorial service this evening at sunset, and I was wondering if you would mind carving a crystal memorial to honour those that died."

Hoggle gaped open mouthed in awe for a few seconds before recovering his voice. "I'd be honoured your Majesty."

It was the first time Hoggle had spoken to her so formally, but Sarah knew it was his way of showing his respect at being appointed so prestigious a task. Hoggle left immediately to set to his task, and Jareth sent a crystal out the window to form a block of crystal in Hoggle's workshop for him to sculpt.

Sarah, Carnice and Jareth then discussed plans for the memorial service, before Carnice and Mandana went off to see to the plans and make sure everyone was aware of it, and seeing to any suggestions anyone had as to additions to the service. Sarah and Jareth were left alone again, but this was no time for romantic moments.

"Sarah, what are you going to do about Toby?" Jareth asked gently.

Sarah sighed quietly before replying. "That's just what I don't know. I love him Jareth, he's my brother… But he doesn't belong here, he's not Fae. He's got two parents Aboveground, and now they've separated they can be truly good to him. I remember the vision I had when I first returned here, without me, Toby and my Dad can be happy. If I take Toby away from him, my Dad will be alone, and whatever his faults, he doesn't deserve that…" She paused to collect her thoughts before continuing. "Plus, if he comes here, he has to die. I couldn't do that to my Dad or Karen. And Toby's young, he's got a whole life ahead of him, he deserves to at least see how it turns out. He's too young to give it all up so soon."

Jareth knew how hard this was for Sarah. She loved her brother, they were closer than Jareth had ever been with his siblings. By allowing Toby to return Aboveground she was going to have to say goodbye to him all over again, and it would break her heart.

"Jareth…" The Goblin King realised he'd drifted in his own thoughts, he refocused to find Sarah looking at him. "What happens to me? You said I had to die to come her permanently before…"

"And die you did. You died four months ago when you first came to live here permanently, your mortal body did anyway. When your soul took up residence in the labyrinth you gained a Fae body, it was this that you went back Aboveground in. It was never going to be a perfect solution though. After about six months you would have started getting ill, becoming weaker. I could have given you doses of magic, but it would only have kept you alive, not well. Fae cannot live in the absence of magic, it drains them of their own power. Top ups from me could have kept you alive for maybe 30 years, but you would have been constantly tired, weak, unable to live a proper life." He paused at this point, sorrow tingeing his features. "Still, it beat letting you remain here to be killed."

Sarah nodded morosely. "So I just disappear. No dead body, no funeral this time…"

"No Sarah, not this time. But you've got a hard decision to make, you can't just disappear, leave your family wondering what happened to you for the rest of their lives. I can alter their memories, give them a memory of your death, a funeral, or I can let you explain everything, let them know what truly happened to you. That way you can still visit them, they can visit you… but it's not an easy decision to make, Toby's seven, he's been here, the knowledge of this place will haunt him. Knowing that he's different, that he's been to another world, will set him apart from everyone else. As for your father, it will be hard for him to accept the truth, he may even deny it all together, creating a mundane explanation for your absence, it may create a distance between you two that you're unable to bridge."

Jareth trailed off, leaving Sarah to mull over the options he was presenting her with. In the end though it was simple. She could not leave like she did before, no matter what the consequences, she could not say goodbye to Toby, she could not live with the memory of him weeping at her funeral. He was a strong boy, she knew he would be able to live with the knowledge of the Underground. She just hoped he'd understand why he couldn't stay here with her.

Sarah had only just made her decision when there came a knock on the door, and Jareth's manservant informed them that Jareth's parents had requested an audience with them. They were ready within minutes, strolling down the throne room hand in hand, enjoying the casual air the castle had about it now.


	47. Chapter 47

As they walked into the throne room they found Saliene and Parthenon standing in the middle of the room. They turned to watch their son and his love enter, and Saliene couldn't keep her features schooled, instead she smiled broadly at the sight of her son alive and well. Saliene and Parthenon had left before the second battle to find the Faeries. They have eventually found them as the Faeries were heading back to the war, but Saliene and Parthenon had not returned to the Goblin Kingdom until Sarah had summoned them the previous day. Underground war etiquette demanded that only the ruler of the Kingdom at war could participate, so his parents and siblings had been unable to interfere in any way, even to heal the wounded. Watching her son fight for his life in her own scrying pool had been the hardest task of Saliene's life, to see him alive and well, and Sarah too, spread pure joy through her heart.

As the two couples met, Saliene hugged first her son, and then Sarah, both with equal warmth, for she loved them both. Even Parthenon hugged the couple, so overwhelmed with relief was he that they were alive and the war was over.

"Well son, I believe a congratulations are in order on your victory."

"Not my victory father, Sarah was the crucial factor in the final moments." Jareth replied, putting his arm around Sarah's waist and drawing her nearer to him. "And the victory belongs to all those who fought in this war, to all the subjects of the Underground."

Parthenon smiled with pride at his son, pleased at the King he had become. No more was he the spoiled brat prince, here was a true ruler.

"As it should be. I hear you are planning a memorial for this evening, a splendid gesture."

"I felt that the sacrifice of those who died fighting for this victory should not go unmarked. I know everyone wants to celebrate the peace, but first we need to take time and show our respect for those who died to grant us this peace." Sarah said, a melancholy air taking over her features as she thought of the losses.

"It's a fitting tribute dear." Saliene said. "However once it's over, we really need to get back to this wedding business, no victory is complete without celebration and what better way than a royal wedding."

Sarah couldn't help but laugh, even after all they'd been through, this wedding was to be a magnificent and important event. Sarah wished she could have a small wedding now, but too many arrangements had already been made, too many guests were already here, and like Saliene said, the people needed a celebration.

"So just how quickly do you think we can get this wedding back on its feet then?" Sarah said, feeling the excitement at finally wedding Jareth well up inside her.

"Hmm, well most of the preparations are still in place, all the guests are here, there are still a few things that need doing, and I'm sure those involved in the ceremony would like time to go over their roles once more and of course everyone needs to be informed of the new date…" Saliene was mostly talking to herself now, going over the details in her own head. "I'd say we should be ready in three days time."

"Three days it is then." Jareth said, beaming at his wife to be. "However you may need to alter the dress slightly mother, it appears our little one has had a grown spurt."

Saliene felt tears of joy gather in her eyes. Not since Sarah's return to the Underground had the baby been mentioned. During Sarah's times of worry, Saliene had distracted her with wedding tasks, but they had never once talked about it, neither wishing to voice the worry that the baby may not have survived the transition to the Underground. That Jareth mentioned the baby once more, indicated they clearly knew for sure that the baby would be fine and now Saliene looked she could indeed see a small bump on Sarah's stomach,.

"Now mother, I will not have you going all emotional on me now, save that for the wedding." Jareth said with an impish grin on your face.

Parthenon considering scolding the boy, but gave it up as a lost cause. The Goblin King was back to his usual ways, and nothing could make his father happier than to see him so full of joy.

The next few hours were filled with discussions of the final details of the wedding, going over the various roles, revising the seating plans in accordance to those honoured in the war. It was only hours later, exasperated by once again having to place a Fae noble he didn't much like quite close to the head table because of court protocol, that Jareth gave up trying to interfere and gave the table to Sarah instead

"So is there anything you want for the wedding Sarah, as clearly my wishes are to be ignored?" Jareth asked, an exaggerated look of despair on his face.

Sarah thought for only a moment before replying. "Music."

"Music?" Jareth asked grinning. "You are aware we've got the entire Fae orchestra playing the reception aren't you?"

"Not that kind, a band, metal. It's been too long Jareth, I miss it. I miss the atmosphere of live gigs, the adrenaline, the energy of a performance. I want to feel that again."

"Well then you shall." Jareth said, putting his arm around his soon to be wife. "Name the band and they can play after the orchestra to end the reception and start the ball."

"Any band?" Sarah asked, not daring to hope.

"Any band." Jareth replied.

"Dragonforce."

The Goblin King couldn't help but laugh. "Ah Sarah, you never go for the easy choice do you? Well Dragonforce it shall be then." He paused slightly, grinning impossibly wider. "Oh I can't wait to see the looks on those haughty Fae noble faces when those boys walk out on stage."

Saliene and Parthenon wisely keep quiet, each thinking that their youngest son's mischievousness was possibly rubbing off his soon to be wife. At that point they were interrupted as the whirlwind that was Toby flew into the throne room desperate to tell his sister of everything he'd seen in his travels through the Labyrinth.

Just as they had that morning, Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo came lumbering in a few moments later, out of breath and clearly exhausted after following the boy about all day, despite the fact it was they who were meant to be the guides. Seeing their tired faces Sarah suggested it was about time for some dinner, which was greeted by shrieks of delight from Toby and a grumble from her own stomach as she realised she hadn't actually eaten all day.

The dinner was a pleasant one, Carnice had joined them at the table and Sarah found herself enjoying a true family dinner, despite the odd collection of people gathered around the table. Fae, human, goblin, dwarf and knight. Nevertheless, they were truly her family, and Sarah couldn't be happier. Except she knew it could not last. Toby could not stay here, and their father still didn't know that his son was okay. As she looked at Jareth she could tell he knew what she'd been thinking, and he told her to go, he'd look after Toby until she returned. She quickly excused herself from the table and made her way to her room.

**A/N Thank you so much for the reviews!!! This chapter ends a bit abruptly simply because the full chapter is just huge so I've had to split it up. I hope you still enjoy it though! I'm not sure how long it'll be before I update as I'm going away for a few days, but at the latest you'll have the next bit on Sunday. Let me know what you think**


	48. Chapter 48

Hardening herself to what she would see, Sarah transported herself to her father's home. She had expected to find him in an alcohol fuelled stupor. Separating from his wife, having his son kidnapped and his daughter blaming him before disappearing herself cannot have been easy. Sarah loved her father, but she'd seen him deteriorate from a strong loving man to a weak, distant alcoholic, she didn't hold out much hope that things would have changed. Clearly she had underestimated him. When she arrived in his home she found him in the kitchen. He stared at her in shock, but his eyes were clear, gone was the dull bloodshot gaze. He was clean shaven, dressed smartly and eating a meal of chicken with boiled potatoes, vegetables and gravy, something she hadn't seen him do in a long time, whiskey long ago having replaced proper meals. Sarah saw his briefcase on the table, his suit telling her he had not long ago returned from work. It seemed the recent events had been exactly what he needed to get his life back in order. Sarah felt tears of joy gather in her eyes as she stared at the father she remembered from childhood.

"Sarah…" his voice was hesitant, not truly believing she was really here. Unable to hold back any longer, Sarah threw herself into her fathers arms, only then did they both let loose the tears they'd been holding back for so long.

"Oh Sarah, you're okay." His voice trembled with relief as he spoke.

"I'm okay Dad, so is Toby, we found him, he's safe."

The tears were flowing freely now.

"I never gave up hope. I knew if anyone could find him you could. You were right, about everything. I've been a bad father, I abandoned you both when you needed me the most. But it's over now Sarah, I promise you. I'm sober, and I'm going to stay that way. I was weak but you brought me back, you and Toby."

No more words were necessary, the past would be forgotten as long as the future was a happy one. Whatever sins he had committed as a father before, Sarah knew they were behind him. His eyes had been opened to his faults, opened to the pain he was causing his children. Sarah hated that she had been so cruel to him, but seeing him like this, sober, together, she knew she'd done the right thing. The vision she'd seen would come to be, her father and her brother would be happy.

After a while Sarah and her father pulled apart and there was silence as Sarah tried to put her thoughts in order. It was he who spoke first thought.

"Where have you been? Where's Toby?"

His voice was thick with concern, though he did not doubt that his son was safe.

"Dad, there's a lot to tell you. It started five years ago…"

Sarah spent the next two hours explaining everything that had happened, starting with her first visit to the Labyrinth. As she was speaking, the shock on her father's face was clear to see, but eventually it faded until there was no emotion left to read. Sarah couldn't tell how he was taking all that she had to say, she only knew that now she had started, she couldn't stop. When she finished she had expected silence as he took in all that she was telling him. Instead he spoke almost immediately.

"So what happens now?"

His tone was so matter of fact that it was Sarah's turn to stare in surprise.

"You're not shocked by any of this?"

"Shocked? Of course I'm shocked, you just told me there's another world with Goblins and Faeries and a King that you're going to marry. But Sarah, when I met Jareth I knew he wasn't quite normal, and you were changed after your attack, in more ways than the attack could account for. I don't pretend to understand this world, but what you just said makes a lot more sense than any mundane explanation. Plus I just saw you appear magically in my kitchen. All I care about now is what happens to my two children."

Sarah nodded slightly in response. Her father had always been a level-headed man, which had led her to believe it would take a lot to convince him of the existence of another world and all that happened there. But in the end, her father trusted her and the light of truth shone in her eyes, that's all he needed to believe.

"Well Toby will come back here as soon as I can pry him away from the Labyrinth…"

Sarah trailed off, but her father knew what she was going to say.

"But you're staying there.."

"I love you Dad, you and Toby, but what I have with Jareth goes so much deeper, the Underground is my home, its subjects are my friends. I belong there."

"Well we can't very well deprive the Underground of its Queen now can we?" Her father said with a melancholy but understanding smile. "Now all I've got to do is figure out what to tell people when they realise you're gone…"

"Tell them the truth. I got married and moved to be with my husband. To be honest dad, I don't think anyone will ask. I don't think they'll notice. I never really had any friends, no one came to visit me when I was in hospital, my old employers accepted my resignation after my attack and I haven't heard from them since… I don't belong in this world dad, I never did. Call it fate, destiny, whatever you want, I belong in the Underground. Other than you and Toby, there's nothing for me up here. It's going to be hard to leave you guys, but the Labyrinth's my home now. I'll get to see you again though. You've still got to come Underground for the wedding, I'm counting on you to give me away, and there'll be visits after that. This is the best way Dad, I'm happy there, truly happy."

Her father smiled at her, knowing her words were the truth. He hadn't seen her happy in such a long time, it warmed his heart to see her this way. Gone was the weak sorrowful girl, tormented by things he couldn't even begin to imagine, the girl who stood in front of him now was strong and happy. As he looked at her he saw the Queen she would become, and he knew she would be a good Queen, from what she'd told him, she'd already proved that.

"So what about Toby, is he coming back now?"

"That's up to you, the wedding's in three days and Toby's more than happy in the Labyrinth, we can look after him until then, unless you want him back here now. You can come with me if you want, stay with us until the wedding."

"Thank you Sarah, but I'm needed here. After Toby was taken and you disappeared, I straightened myself out. I'm sober, working normal hours and doing a proper job of it now. Let Toby enjoy the next few days with you, I'll come see you in three days for the wedding and bring him home with me then." He paused before continuing quietly. "I just hope he'll forgive me, I hope you both will."

"There's nothing to forgive, not as long as you carry on the way you are. Toby's a great kid, he's going to be okay, especially now he's got his Dad back."

Father and daughter hugged once more, then Sarah knew she had to go. She left instructions that at 9am three days hence a rose with a sphere in the centre would appear before him, all he had to do was touch it and it'd take him to the Underground. Then she transported herself back home.

**A/N So I decided to give you the next part of this epic chapter before I go away. I hope you like it! The next update is likely to be Sunday.**


	49. Chapter 49

Sarah returned to the Labyrinth just as the sun was beginning to set. Changing into a plain black dress she headed to the throne room to find Jareth and his parents, then went out to the front of the castle. The large open area where the army had gathered before was once again filled. Creatures of all races of the Underground had come to pay their respects to the dead. Sarah could see Goblin, Elementals, Fae and Animalanis mingled together. It was a sombre sight to behold, but heart warming at the same time. The subjects of the Underground were truly united in their grief. Sarah could see both young and old, those fit and those injured in the fighting, standing together in friendship. The royals stood watching their subjects interact for a while, gradually becoming aware that Jareth's brothers and their partners had joined them.

As the last rays of the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, the Royal family started to walk slowly down the stairs, creating lights to illuminate them and the crowd as they went. Sarah and Jareth stopped a few steps from the bottom, the rest of the family remained standing a few steps behind them. The crowd went silent immediately as Jareth began to speak.

"Goblins, Fae, Elementals, Animalanis. I stand here today not as your King, but as a fellow resident of the Underground. These times have been hard, our lands, our homes, our very lives have been threatened. I watched as countless of my subjects died, subjects that I care for, subjects that I called my friends. I came close to death myself, as did many of you that I see standing before me today. We were the lucky ones, we survived this war, we lived to see peace once again, to see the Underground rise victorious and the lands we loved kept safe. In three days I shall wed Lady Sarah, and the celebration shall not only be for our marriage, but for the victory that belongs to us all."

"Today however," Sarah continued, picking up flawlessly from where Jareth left off. "Is for those who cannot be here to celebrate our victory, to taste this freedom. Those who fell to give us this gift, made the ultimate sacrifice for those they loved and such a sacrifice must never be forgotten. Their noble deeds will be honoured forever in our hearts. I have asked Hoggle to carve a statue as a commemoration to those who fell in this war, an ever lasting monument to their bravery."

Sarah held out her hand and produced a rose sphere. Lowering her hand, the magic floated out to a space a few metres from the steps and Hoggle appeared standing next to a large object covered with a cloth.

"Noble Hoggle, you stood by your King through the war, protecting him with your sword. I ask that you do the honours of revealing your work."

Slowly, almost shyly, Hoggle reached out and pulled the cloth off his statue. It was magnificent. Carved out of frosted crystal, the sculpture stood almost six foot tall. In it were depicted members of the four races who had united to fight in the war. At the centre was a carving of a Fae dressed in full armour, proud and regal, fierce almost in its stance. Along its back were traced lines depicting wings, a nod to the Faery race and their role in the war. Standing proudly next to the Fae was a Goblin, dressed in its own combination of metal and leather armour, adorned with the pendant that the Goblin King wore around his neck, a symbol of all the creatures of the Goblin Kingdom united. Standing to the other side of the Fae was a wolf, curving gently around the front of the statue, and an owl sat upon the Fae's shoulder, representations of the fierce and calm sides of the Animalanis nature. Around the base of the statue, adorning a side each, were depictions of fire, water, wind swirls for air and mountains for earth, representations of the four Elementals. All four Kingdoms were portrayed, all subjects of the Underground honoured for their role in its victory.

Sarah allowed a minute of silence to follow the unveiling, letting everyone view the statue and remember their fallen heroes.

"This statue will stand as a reminder of those that fell, a monument to their courage and their sacrifice. It will also stand to remind us of the cost of our freedom, and as a vow that never will our lands be taken, never will our people bow down to invaders. We are all residents of the Underground, we are all strong and no one shall ever break or defeat us."

Her speech was met with deafening cries. For this moment, no matter the grudges of the past or the foes of the future, every single creature in the Underground was united in its pride of the lands they called home.

The next few days passed in a flurry of activity. Sarah could never have imagined how hard it would be to reorganise the wedding. This was no longer a necessary event, it was a true celebration, a royal union, and so the plans now all required extra care. To add to that there was also a runner in the Labyrinth. A teenage girl who had wished her younger sister away. Sarah felt slightly sorry for the girl, she'd done it after being made to stay home to look after her sister instead of going shopping with her friends. Normal childhood jealousy and under normal circumstances she would have won her sister back no problem. Of course these weren't normal circumstances. So excited were all the creatures of the Labyrinth at the prospect of a proper royal marriage after the turmoil of war, that they forgot their roles and kept enticing the girl into celebrating with them or getting her to join in helping with the preparations.

The goblins got her picking flowers for the wedding decorations. The worm had been off trying on new scarves to decide which would look best for the wedding, consequently the poor girl spent her entire first hour walking in a straight line before Sarah magically made her trip over a rock and fall into one of the secret openings. The Animalanis still resident roped her into helping them scour the Labyrinth for any song birds, or indeed any creatures at all, to provide music for the guests as they arrived at the wedding. Finally the Fierys almost had her eating their special brand of mushrooms. Sarah was reluctant to think of the consequences of sending a runner back Aboveground under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms. As it was Sarah puller her out of the Labyrinth and sent her back home with her sister, altering both their memories so they wouldn't remember a thing of their time Underground. The Labyrinth before a royal wedding was a confusing place to be for a mortal.

Sarah was asked to re-finalise the menu's, give advice on table settings, choose new flower arrangements. New roles in the wedding had to be created for Sarah's father. In reality Sarah pulled the roles from an Aboveground wedding. Giving away the bride didn't exist Underground, but everyone felt it was fitting Sarah's family be involved and the wedding represent a true blending of Aboveground and Underground traditions. The area for the wedding was extended to make room for all the extra subjects. As it was a celebration of war, everyone who wanted could attend, instead of just those noble or close to the royal couple, although mostly it was the goblins that made up the extra numbers. This caused more trouble with the seating arrangements and in the end it was simply decided to set apart a whole area of the reception room for the residents of the Underground to seat themselves wherever they wanted.

Sarah didn't see much of Toby over the next few days, she was constantly busy with the wedding preparations and he was far too interested in exploring the Labyrinth. However at the end of each day, the whole royal family, along with Toby, Carnice, Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus all sat down and ate dinner together. It was a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of life in the Labyrinth with all the preparations going on and a hyperactive seven year old running about. After dinner Sarah made sure she spent some quality time with Toby before he went to bed, and then some quiet time with Carnice and Mandana before she retired herself, exhausted and more than ready to sleep.

The final day before the wedding was even more hectic than the rest as people began to worry that things wouldn't be finished in time. By the time dinner arrived Sarah was exhausted and could barely stay awake to play with Toby. Her hour with the girls was given up instead to the traditional Underground evening with her husband to be. This was meant to be quality time, to discuss anything that might be on their minds before the wedding, clear the air if it was needed, and if not, enjoy their time together before the madness of the wedding.

For a while Sarah and Jareth merely lay on their bed in silence, relishing each other's company, they'd barely had any time together recently, and it was nice to just be alone for a while. Eventually though, Jareth decided it was time to use the evening for what it was allotted for, and address his main worry.

"Sarah, are you okay? So much has happened since we returned here that we haven't had any time to really talk. I know you've been keeping busy, distracting yourself from things, but I'm worried."

Sarah knew without him saying what he was worried about. Jareth hadn't shielded her from the pain of her attack since he sent her back Aboveground, he wanted to know how she was dealing with it. He was right though, she had been keeping herself busy, doing anything so as not to have time to dwell on memories, the think of what they did to her, but it wasn't just that…

"It hurts Jareth, I won't deny that, but it's not like it was Aboveground. There I was alone, but here I've got you. I love you, and I can't even put into words how much your love has helped me come to terms with my attack. I've got all my friends around me too, and your family, I love them like my own. I know I don't have your shield around me, blocking me from the pain anymore, but having people I care about around me is a shield in itself. And it's more than that, it's like this place is healing me, almost as though the Labyrinth itself doesn't want me to be in pain." Sarah laughed slightly at her own words. "I know it sounds a bit crazy, but the Labyrinth has its own magic, and I think it's helping me. I'm happy Jareth. It still hurts when I think of what they did to me, but I'm happy."

The reassurance was more than enough for Jareth, even as Sarah spoke the words Jareth knew what she was saying was true. Her attack had happened in another world, the barriers between the two worlds were strong, that magic was distancing Sarah from the pain, and she was right, the magic of the Labyrinth did have the power to heal. Many a time a wished away child had arrived broken, both physically and mentally. These children were kept here longer, to allow the power of the Labyrinth to heal their pain, let them grow into happy children. Jareth had no doubt that the Labyrinth was doing the same to Sarah. Contentedly he kissed Sarah gently, before suggesting it was time to go to bed. Separate beds. It seemed both Underground and Aboveground had traditions regarding the night before the wedding.

After one final unmarried kiss, Sarah went to her own rooms, dressed for bed and lay down. She knew she'd be awake for hours, worried that something would go wrong the next day. She was asleep within seconds.

**A/N So, a little later than I anticipated, I only got 11 hours sleep in three days (the one problem with festivals) so last night was given up completely to festivals. So I've given you an extra long chapter to make up for it. Hope you like it!**


	50. Chapter 50

Sarah awoke the next morning a bundle of nerves. She didn't now how she'd managed to sleep at all, but in the end exhaustion had won out. She opened her eyes as the first rays of dawn appeared over the horizon and within seconds of her getting out of bed, Mandana and Saliene were at her door, taking charge. First Sarah had a warm, herb infused bath to help calm her nerves. For a time it actually worked, but all too soon she had to leave the bath and the nerves returned in full. She hadn't thought she'd be nervous, she loved Jareth, she couldn't imagine not spending the rest of her life with him, but that wasn't what was bothering her. Despite everything she had done since returning to the Underground, the thought of becoming High Queen terrified her. She didn't feel like a Queen, she didn't know how she'd possibly be able to do it, and if she failed, if she made a wrong decision, so many people could suffer for it. The rational side of her brain kept telling her that she wouldn't be ruling alone, she'd have Jareth by her side and Saliene and Parthenon to give her advice, but still the nerves gripped her. In addition to that was the ceremony itself, similar to an Aboveground wedding in some ways, and yet so different. What if she forgot something? The thoughts kept going around her head as Mandana did her hair and make-up. Saliene could see Sarah's anxiety and kept up a steady stream of talk, but she only managed to keep Sarah distracted for half of the time.

The preparations seemed to take forever, first there was the hair and make-up, which even though the make up was minimal, there was a long cleansing and moisturising routine to do first. After that Salience forced Sarah to eat some porridge with fruit for breakfast as it was going to be a long, difficult day and she'd need lots of energy. Sarah ate what little she could then went over the protocol of the day with her soon to be mother-in-law. All the time during the preparations, goblins were constantly coming in to ask last minute questions of Saliene on details for the wedding. More than once Mandana had to stop preparing Sarah to shoo an unnecessarily ruffled goblin out of the room before their nerves made Sarah even worse. This was the biggest event the Labyrinth had ever held, everyone wanted it to go perfectly.

About an hour after Sarah had eaten, a pitifully small meal, but no doubt full of a lot more energy than should have been possible, and after Saliene had managed to talk some confidence into Sarah, it was time to dress properly. First came the elaborate, yet slim underskirt. Layers of gauzy, embroidered material to slightly bulk out the skirt of the dress. Then there was the corset, a gorgeous white satin piece with Fae ribbon ties, elegant to look at but incredibly strong. The corset was tied lightly, emphasizing Sarah's bust and waist without putting undue pressure on the baby. At this stage the corset couldn't harm the baby, but there was no need to make Sarah uncomfortable.

Then came the dress itself. Sarah had not yet seen the dress and was a little worried as to what a Fae wedding dress would look like. Memories of the meringue style dress of the ballroom from her first visit to the Labyrinth haunted her. She had stood for hours as the Royal dress maker had taken innumerable measurements, both mundane and magical to make sure her dress would fit perfectly. She'd had to go through it all again two days ago to make sure the dress would still fit over the slight swell of her stomach. Yet not once in all the preparations had Sarah had so much of a glimpse of the dress. Even now Sarah was blindfolded as Mandana and Saliene helped her into the dress, then made slight adjustments to the dress, her hair and her make-up before finally allowing her to see herself in the mirror.

Sarah needn't have worried about another meringue dress, the dress maker had gone for a more traditional Aboveground dress, and when Sarah saw it, she was stunned. The woman she saw in the mirror truly looked like a queen. Minimal make-up enhanced her powerful eyes and regal cheekbones. Her raven hair had been curled, the front swept back and held in a crystal encrusted clasp, with the rest falling in curling tendrils down her back. And then there was the dress. It was made of Fae satin, shimmering between pure white and iridescent cream as the light fell on it. The bodice was tightly fitted over the corset, low cut, yet tasteful, tiny spaghetti straps, more decorative than functional, adorned her elegant shoulders. The skirt flared out slightly at her hips, falling gracefully to the floor with a few feet of train trailing out behind her. The material at the front of the skirt was split and beneath was a panel of the most gorgeous lace Sarah had even seen, it was so delicate it looked as if it would fall apart if you touched it, but Sarah knew it was Faery lace and was as strong as any man-made material.

As she looked at herself in the mirror, Sarah's skin began to glow slightly, her Fae side beginning to show through. With hardly a thought Sarah brought her wings out, using magic to make sure the dress was not damaged. Staring at her striking image in the mirror, Sarah finally began to see what others saw clearly in her, a true Queen. Awed by her image, Sarah turned to thank Mandana and Saline, only to find both of them had tears of joy in their eyes. Seeing both of them crying set Sarah off and soon they were hugging, careful not to crease the dress of course.

A knock came at the door and a goblin informed them that the guests had all arrived. Drying her eyes, surprised to find her make-up had not been damaged by her tears, Sarah took one final look at herself in the mirror and then turned to the window.

"It's time." She said. Before gripping Mandana and Saliene's hands and transporting them all to the brides tent at the edge of the clearing in the Labyrinth for the wedding.

Sarah's father was already in the bridal tent when the women arrived. He was left speechless at the sight of his daughter and took a few seconds to recover before telling Sarah how proud he was of her. Sarah found herself holding back tears as she realised she was proud of him too, proud he had managed to sort his life out and gone back to being the father she knew and loved. There was no time to tell him this though as they heard the wedding march begin outside the tent. It had been hard to decide which bits of which world's ceremony's to use, but Sarah had asked for a traditional Aboveground opening before moving towards a more Underground wedding, symbolic of her leaving her old life behind and joining the Underground.

As Sarah exited the tent on her father's arm, she was stunned by the sheer number of people present. The aisle seemed to go on forever, and she couldn't see the end of the congregation on either side of her. All the nobles of all four Kingdom's, all those that had fought or helped in the war, and every single able bodied goblin was present. Even after the losses of war, the vast extent of the Underground populations was staggering.

Sarah's thoughts didn't linger on the guests for long though. At the far end of the aisle she caught a glimpse of Jareth and her breath caught in her throat as she walked towards him. His sleek blonde hair was pulled back into a pony tail and all traces of his once excessive make-up were gone. Upon his head sat an elegant gold crown, the symbol of the goblin Kingdom in etched into the front of it. His breeches were made out of a navy blue satin, silver thread tracing elegant patters over them. He wore a white shirt with loose sleeves, and a vest waistcoat to match his breeches. Completing the ensemble was a cream coloured cloak covered in silver embroidery that depicted the four races of the Underground. The crown upon Jareth's head indicated his continued role as Goblin King, whereas the cloak was that of the High King. Seeing Jareth dressed as the king he truly was, filled Sarah full of pride. He was a great King, all who gathered here knew that. And Sarah loved him. Completely and with her whole heart, she loved him. She was no longer nervous, only filled with pure joy at finally being joined in marriage to the man she loved.

Eventually Sarah and her father reached the front of the assembly, Sarah stood to the left of Jareth with her father to the other side of her. Lord Lenea came to stand at Sarah's father's side and Trea and Markon moved to Jareth's right. Saliene and Parthenon stood in front of the couple, facing both them and the guests.

"Jareth, High King of the Underground and ruler of the goblins" Parthenon began, his voice carrying clearly to all present. "And Lady Sarah of the Faeries, daughter of the mortal world have expressed their desire to marry, to formalize the love that binds them together, today and always. It is a joining of both this couple and the races to which they belong. I therefore ask the representatives of these races to show their consent to this marriage."

As the King stopped speaking Lord Lenea stepped forward and turned to Sarah. Holding her hands lightly in his, he closed his eyes, almost instantly the veins in Sarah's wings began to glow and then turned a gleaming gold. Smiling, Lord Lenea released her hands and took hold of Jareth's. This time when he closed his eyes, Jareth's cloak seemed to go transparent and the bright outline of wings shone through Jareth's clothes, a permanent tattoo etched in gold along Jareth's skin. Smiling once again, Lord Lenea opened his eyes, released Jareth's hands and moved to take a seat on the front row.

"The blessing of the Faeries is given." Saliene announced.

The ritual was repeated by all those stood by the betrothed couple. Sarah's father hugged his daughter and shook her soon-to-be husbands' hand, the mortal sign of approval. Markon placed bead and owl feather ornaments in the pair's hair, symbols of Jareth's Animalanis side, and their King's approval. Finally Trea bade them both form the symbol of their magic. Jareth held out a crystal. Sarah held out her rose with the sphere of light. Taking both their hands in his own Trea closed his eyes. When he opened them the crystal and the rose sphere were gone. In their places two crystals filled with flickering gold and red light remained, a symbol of the couple's joining magic.

After reach representative had sat down, Saliene announced in turn that the blessing of Aboveground, Animalanis and Fae had been given. A small smile played on Saliene's lips before she continued speaking.

"Although neither the bride nor the groom is goblin, Jareth has ruled the goblin Kingdom for hundreds of years and his subjects wish to show their respect to him and their new Queen."

At a small gesture from Saliene, Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo arose from their seats and knelt in front of the couple.

"Fair maiden, good sir, I pledge myself to your service. May your love reign eternal." Sir Didymus announced.

"You've shown me true friendship an' allowed me to prove I'm no coward. You 'ave my thanks an' allegiance, always." Hoggle continued.

"Sarah and Jareth friends." Ludo finished succinctly. Sarah found herself fighting back the tears once again at her friends' show of love.

After the three had taken their seats once again, Saliene and Parthenon stepped forward. Together they placed Jareth's left hand atop Sarah's right.

"As the former High Rulers of the Underground and representatives of all its peoples, we give you our blessing." Parthenon said.

There was no magic this time, no gifts, simply the heartfelt approval of two who shared the feelings of an entire world's population.

After that came the speeches from various nobles of all four Kingdom's. It was mostly generic speeches about how they wished the couple eternal happiness and peace throughout their reign, but Sarah could hear in their voices that they meant every word. At the end of the speeches the nobles would pledge the allegiance of their household to the High King and Queen.

It was as the last Fae nobles had finished his speech and Parthenon stepped forward to speak that Sarah felt a slight tug on her dress. She looked down to find herself gazing into the solemn eyes of her little brother. Toby had spent the entire service sat quietly on the front row next to her father, but had left his seat as the last noble spoke.

"Sarah," he said quietly, "Can I make a speech? Please?"

His voice was so timid and his eyes so sad, Sarah began to worry something was wrong. Quickly she glances at Jareth who nodded his head in agreement.

"Okay Toby, go up to the front." She said to her brother, smiling warmly at him in encouragement.

Slowly, Toby made his way to stand before Jareth's parents. He stood facing the audience silently for a few seconds, plucking up his courage before eventually speaking. His voice was quiet, but Sarah knew the magic of the Labyrinth meant everyone heard him.

"Everyone's been saying how you'll be a great Queen," He began, looking straight at Sarah. "But you're not a Queen to me, you're my sister. You're the bestest sister I've ever had. You always hugged me and told me stories and fed me. You looked after me. I know you're staying here, and I have to go home… I wish I didn't, I'll miss you. But this is your home and you're a Queen and I'll still get to see you, so I guess it's not so bad. I just wanted everyone to know how great you are, and, well, you take care of my sister okay?" He ended, speaking to Jareth.

"I will Toby, I promise." Jareth replied sincerely.

Sarah knelt down as Toby rushed to hug her, finally giving way to the tears that she had held back throughout the entire service. Tears of love and joy, but tinged with sorrow at the thought of once again parting from her brother.

When Toby finally returned to his seat, the ceremony was almost over. Parthenon read out messages from other lands that were allied with the Underground, sending good wishes to the new rulers on their wedding day. Then all that remained was to exchange rings, an Aboveground tradition Sarah would not abandon, and for Sarah to be given the cloak of the High Queen. When Sarah and Jareth shared their first kiss as husband and wife, the assembled guests let out a loud cheer, proof of their support of the royal pair.

**A/N I'm so sorry for the delay, my internet once again decided it didn't want to work. But this is a longish chapter so I hope you'll forgive me!! Once again I've had to chop the chapter in half as the full thing is far too long, but I'll update again in a few days (as long as my internet works...). Thank you as always for reading and please let me know what you think!**


	51. Chapter 51

In a flash, the wedding area was transformed into a reception area. Jareth and Sarah decided to forego the individual greeting of guests due to the sheer number in attendance. Instead they opted for a single greeting to the whole audience, thanking them for their attendance, their gifts and their acceptance of their new leaders.

Once again cheers rang out amongst the guests and then the feasting began. Sarah had Toby sat next to her, with her father next to her brother, wanting to spend as much time as possible with them before they had to return Aboveground. Jareth's parents sat next to him, giving him their heartfelt congratulations now that the formal service was over.

On the tables closest to the top table were Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus, along with Carnice and Mandana.

During the meal many people came up to extend their congratulations personally, but it wasn't long until both the royal pair were distracted by the goings on at the far tables. Despite the new peace and respect amongst the Underground's population, the Fae still weren't exactly comfortable with the Goblin's mischievous nature. As a bid to keep the peace, the Fae had been sat near the top table with the goblins at the far end. Yet the goblins were still managing to cause a raucous.

Sarah could see that food covered the tables, floor and anyone unlucky enough to be sat near the goblins during their feast. They'd even managed to get the gnomes involved with their revelry. By this point both races had consumed all their own alcohol and all of the alcohol they could pilfer unnoticed from nearby tables. Sarah could see more than a few goblins dancing a jig on the tables despite the classical music being played by the Fae orchestra.

As the newly married couple watched, the goblins decided they'd had enough of the Fae orchestral music. Howling all the way, the goblins stormed the stage where the musicians sat and before the Fae could react, the goblins had stolen every single one of their instruments, run back to their tables and begun to play a lively Irish jig. Due to the fact that none of them really knew how to play instruments and the instruments they had weren't those traditionally used for Irish jigs, the result was a very enthusiastic but shambolic performance.

A few of the Fae musicians had recovered by this point and influenced by the carefree, jovial spirit of the goblins, decided to fight fair, foregoing magic and running over to the goblins to recover their instruments physically. They were stopped before they even reached the Goblins tables by the Gnomes who formed a protective ring around their new allies. It seemed the friendships formed during the war were holding strong, and also that the Fae were beginning to embrace the more childish ways of the Goblins. Sarah couldn't help but laugh as the first Fae jumped over the head of one of the gnomes, prompting a few of the gnomes to rugby tackle the Fae to the ground, whilst others began standing on the heads of the gnomes already in the wall in order to form a higher defence. By this time the first Fae to get through was immobilised underneath a pile of gnomes, as were a few others that had managed to get through before the wall was raised.

Still not resorting to using magic, which would be unfair as the goblins had very little of their own, the Fae began to simply walk around the wall, moving faster than the gnomes could assemble it. As the first Fae walked around the end, the gnomes abandoned their original defence and devoted themselves to stopping the Fae any way they could. Attaching themselves to legs, arms and clothes, climbing Fae and covering their eyes to prevent progress. Sarah even spotted some Gnomes climbing nearby trees and jumping onto the heads of unsuspecting Fae. Chaos erupted as the goblins abandoned their instruments and joined in the fray, whilst gnomes grabbed their fallen instruments and started playing tunes of their own. Gnomes and Goblins were thrown in every direction as the Fae attempted to free themselves and more than one Fae ended up laying on the floor, gnomes and goblins jumping up and down on them. Eventually though one of the Fae escaped his foes long enough to retrieve his instrument, and more followed until before long the entire orchestra was re-united with their pilfered possessions.

For a few seconds there was quiet as the goblins and gnomes sulked in their defeat and the Fae decided what to play, unwilling now to go back to the classical music after such revelry. The decision was made quickly enough and the instruments were changed to those more suitable for the lively music they began to play. The goblins and gnomes let out a loud cheer before grabbing the nearest person to them and beginning to dance again with even more vigour.

Soon enough other Elementals, then Animalanis and even Fae began to join in the dancing. Sarah glanced at her new husband and saw the pride in his face at the unity among their subjects, the same pride was clear in the faces of his parents.

The music continued for another half an hour until everyone had finished eating and drinking their fill. Jareth stood as the last song ended and began to speak.

"Subjects of the Underground. Throughout the day you have witnessed a blending of Aboveground and Underground traditions. What you are about to see next however is no Aboveground tradition, at least not a commonplace one," Jareth said, grinning at his new wife. "However, Sarah was never one to follow the standard and so it seems right to allow her to include in this wedding whatever she wishes. As such it is my pleasure to welcome an Aboveground band to start the evenings festivities. Please welcome, Dragonforce."

There were a few seconds of polite clapping from the Underground residents before the band, transported to a stage at the far end of the reception area, began to play. From the first notes of their extreme power metal, the Fae and Animalanis were silent, shocked and awed at the sight and sounds that assaulted their senses. Five men playing a variety of instruments at breakneck speeds and a singer hitting notes ridiculously high for a male whilst all running around the stage was not at all what the guests had been expecting. The Goblins and Elementals, however, loved this even more than they had the lively Fae music. Carnage that Sarah assumed was supposed to resemble a mosh pit broke out between the two races as they threw themselves about in time to the music, picking up and feeding off it's raw energy. Sarah didn't have time to register the shocked and slightly disapproving looks on the assembled Fae faces as she quickly pinned up the train of her dress, grabbed Toby's hand and joined in the commotion with the rest of her subjects. She knew this was probably the last time she'd get to attend a metal concert and she planned on enjoying it to the full.

The band themselves had no idea they were Underground. They had been booked through normal channels and paid a large sum of money for the gig. Jareth had transported them here and placed charms on them to make them see a large, mortal crowd. As Jareth watched them he found his feet tapping along, he himself was more a fan of 80's rock, but he had to admit, these boys were catchy. More entertaining than the band though, were the looks on the faces of the noble Fae, Jareth's family included. Most Fae never bothered to venture Aboveground and he doubted any of them had ever encountered metal music before, even Lord Lenea looked baffled at the show. No one made a fuss though, contented to watch their new Queen enjoying herself, and it was clear she was. Headbanging, singing along, dancing ridiculously with Toby and the Goblins, Sarah was in her element.

It was over all too soon however. The band was sent back Aboveground and the Fae once more picked up their instruments and began playing the dances of the evening, every so often slipping in a more lively tune for the Goblins and Gnomes. Sarah joined Jareth again at the high table, dropping down into her chair worn out, leaving the Goblins to teach Toby how to mock the dancing Fae. She was out of breath but glowing with happiness. Jareth couldn't resist the urge to lean over and kiss her, more in love with her than ever after seeing just how much she'd shocked the Fae. She'd shown herself to be a wonderful High Queen during the war, but this move had shown her to be a brilliant Goblin Queen.

The royal couple spent the next few hours dancing with the various nobles of all four Kingdom's as protocol required, listening to endless congratulations and generally just wishing they could steal away and finally get some time alone. Eventually though it was almost over. As the clock struck three o'clock in the morning, the Fae orchestra began playing a traditional wedding song. It was a signal for the end of the night, but at the same time, a symbol of the beginning of the rest of the couples lives together, as they had their first true dance together.

The dance floor emptied of all those except the newly married couple. Jareth held out his hand for Sarah and they drifted into a slow dance. Jareth held his new wife close and gradually they both forgot about everyone else in the room, forgot about the music, forgot about everything except the feel of being in each others arms. Their love for each other poured out of them, words weren't necessary to convey their feelings, the bond between them told them all they needed to know. As Sarah leaned in towards Jareth a little more, she felt the happiness of the moment envelop her. After all she had been through, it didn't seem possible that this moment was real. First her attack, then the war, her own personal battles Aboveground and those of her family. Jareth's own struggles and the betrayal of his sister. They'd been through so much together in such a short time, the prospect of peace had seemed impossible and yet here they were. The war was over, the Underground was safe, Gerard and Aladrea were defeated, Toby was happy and her father was his old self again. The song ended and their magnificent wedding day was finally over. The couple pulled apart slightly and looked into each other's eyes, both glistening with tears. A few seconds passed in silence before Jareth leant down to kiss Sarah, it was a soft kiss, but a kiss full of love, a kiss full of possibilities. No matter what road they'd taken to get here, what troubles they'd encountered, all that mattered was that they were together, they were happy, and that's the way they would stay, forever...

**A/N See! I told you I'd give you a happy ending eventually! Might have taken me three years to get here, but I delivered as promised. Huge thanks go to all my readers and those who reviewed my work, I can honestly say this story wouldn't be here without you guys! Extra special thanks to notwritten, hazlgrnLizzy, empty-space and Bluejay917 for all their encouragement and praise!!!**

**I'm currently working on a separate Labyrinth story (this is it for this one, the epic trilogy really has come to an end!) and a Lost Boys story, so keep an eye out for those.**

**Once again, huge thank you to you all!!!**


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